Bangladesh home textile, which produces high quality textiles for home furnishing, now looks for the European Union (EU) with a view to increasing its market share.According to industry insiders, export earnings from the country’s home textile might cross US$1 billion mark by next year (2018) as the industry is experiencing a steady growth in global market over the last couple of years.As per EPB statistics, the country’s home textiles export increased by 6.13 percent to $799.14 million in last fiscal year (2016-17). About 70 percent of the earnings comes from the EU market.According to the European Apparel and Textile Confederation, Euratex data, the EU imported home textiles worth about $6.86 billion in 2016, where Bangladesh market share was only 7-8 percent.The value of global home textiles, they said, stood at $ 107.4 billion in 2014 and is expected to cross $131.5 billion by the year 2020.As part of the move, a group of local entrepreneurs are going to take part in a four-day long International trade fair ‘Heimtextil Frankfurt 2018’ at Frankfurt in Germany early in next year.Heimtextil, the biggest international trade fair for home textiles, will start on January 9, 2018 and will continue till January 12 next year.The exhibition will start in a bid to showcase the world’s largest range of textile products. A wide range of products will be showcased at the Heimtextil under the division of home textiles and the household textiles product segments, as well as a services segment.A total of 19 Bangladeshi entrepreneurs will take part in the exposition and showcase their products.Of them 10 are participating under the patronization of Export Promotion Bureau (EPB) of Bangladesh while 9 others will participate directly.Among them, Nik Composite, EKE Tex, Green Bangla Hometex, Jaantex Industries, Maanuri Textile, Miray Towel, Safreen Tex , Shamsuddin Towels and Virgin Grace are participating through EPB. On the other hand Zaber and Zubair Fabrics, Acs Textile, Apex Weaving, Mom Tex Expo, Noman Terry Towels, Regent Textile, Shabab Fabrics, Saad Musa Fabrics, Towel Tex and Unilliance Textiles are directly participating in the exhibition organised by Messe Frankfurt. Home textiles refer to the textiles used for home furnishing. It comprises of extensive range of functional as well as decorative items or products used mainly for the purpose of decorating our homes.Bangladesh textiles produce home furnishing fabrics or home textiles consist of both natural and man-made fabrics. The products include Bed Sheet, Pillow cover, Long Pillow cover, Bolster case, Pillow, Long Pillow, Bolster, Curtain, Cushion, Cushion Cover, Quilt, Bed Spread etc. “We are attending at Heimtextil Frankfurt expo to display our products in Zaber and Zubair pavilion. It’s an opportunity for us to meet with our existing customers as well as the new ones,” said Khondokar Mahbubur Rahman, General Manager of Zaber and Zubir, an enterprise of Noman group. Noman Group exports home textiles worth about $200 million a year, said Mahbubur Rahman.According to entrepreneurs, it’s a great platform for them to attract new customers as they are also looking for new buyers through this expo.A large number of visitors and buyers across the Europe especially from the Germany, UK, France, Turkey, Spain and Italy visit the Heimtextil trade fair every year.According to the organizer, More than 2886 exhibitors from 69 countries across the globe will participate in January 2017 edition. The next Heimtextil Frankfurt will be held in January 2019. The upcoming Intertextile Shanghai Home will also be held from March14-16, 2018.
