The government is likely to finalise the Export Policy 2015-18 with provision for 2.0 per cent special incentives for the readymade garment (RMG) factories against their exports to help them become compliant, a high official at the ministry of commerce said. Only the garment factories, situated outside the export processing zones (EPZs), would enjoy the facility, according to the draft policy. The trade official said the commerce ministry in a meeting with the stakeholders finalised the draft policy on Thursday and it is expected to be sent to the cabinet for approval soon. The policy also targeted exports worth US$ 50 billion, capitalising on the markets of three Asian economic giants, the official said. The ambitious target is being set as the country’s overseas sales hit a record $ 30 billion in fiscal year (FY), 2013-14. The policy is also likely to consider especially new products and non-traditional markets to help achieve the target, the trade official also said. “Japan, India and China will emerge as vibrant export destinations in the coming years and diversification of products might help achieve the target,” Hedayetullah Al Mamoon, Senior Secretary, Ministry of Commerce, told the FE. “The draft Export Policy 2015-18 has the provision of offering incentives to help broaden markets and product base to reach the target,” he said. “Besides, 12 products that are either new or slower in earning foreign currencies have been incorporated in the draft export policy, which will enjoy government support,” he added. Mr Mamoon also said the government wants to make the export system modern and liberal in conformity with the WTO (World Trade Organisation) rules.   Production of labour-intensive export products will be encouraged and supply of local and foreign raw materials made easier, the secretary informed. However, deep-sea fish, leather and leather products, frozen fish and processed fish items, handicrafts, electric and electronic items, fresh flower and foliage, loom fabrics, medicinal plants and medicine and medical items, plastic goods, furniture, printing and packaging, paper and rubber are the new items that have been included in the new policy. Besides, there will be attempts to improve quality of export products, bring diversification, increase production and capacity to be competitive through addressing the compliance issue. However, the government will take move to introduce different types of packages for the exporters to combat unforeseen challenges in the global market. To increase export of vegetables and frozen foods, the government will initiate establishment of a central warehouse and cool chain system near Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport and all types of financial and technical supports would be provided to collect deep-sea fish, according to the draft policy. “We are optimistic about attaining the target of doubling the country’s export earnings within the period,” EPB vice chairman Shubhashish Bose told the FE. He said India, China and Japan will emerge as another USA or EU for Bangladesh in the coming years with respect to achieving the target. President of Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) Md Atiqul Islam called upon the commerce ministry to add special incentive to the new policy to make the sector vibrant. “We were relentlessly trying to make all the garment factories compliant, the recent policy of the government will help us to materialise our dream,” he added. President of the Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FBCCI) Kazi Akram Uddin Ahmed hailed the government’s move to formulate the new export policy. “I do congratulate the government for its positive inputs in the new policy and for targeting new markets to achieve the export target,” he added. The new policy, however, discourages giving special preference to gas and electricity connections to the export-oriented industries as requested by the BGMEA and the BKMEA (Bangladesh Knitwear Manufacturers and Exporters Association).

Officials of Bangladesh Export Processing Zones Authority (BEPZA) pose with Maj Gen Mohd Habibur Rahman Khan, Executive Chairman of BEPZA, Maj Gen Md Siddiqur Rahman Sarker, Commandant of Military Institute of Science and Technology (MIST), and other guests at a certificate-giving ceremony after completion of a training programme at MIST recently.
A total of 38 officials of Bangladesh Export Processing Zones Authority (BEPZA) completed a three-month training in environmental management recently. Bangladesh Export Processing Zones Authority (BEPZA) in collaboration with Military Institute of Science and Technology (MIST) organised the training programme at MIST. After completion of the course, a certificate-giving ceremony was held at MIST recently, says a press release. Maj Gen Mohd Habibur Rahman Khan, Executive Chairman of BEPZA, was present at the certificate award ceremony as the chief guests. In his speech, Habibur Rahman said the primary objective of an EPZ is to provide special areas where potential investors would find a congenial investment climate, free from all sort of cumbersome procedures. Among others, Maj Gen Md Siddiqur Rahman Sarker, Commandant of MIST, Brig Gen F M Zahid Hossain, Dean, Faculty of Civil Engineering, and Col Shah Md Muniruzzaman, Head of Civil Engineering Department of MIST, also spoke on the occasion.

HR Textile Mills Limited declared 12.50 per cent cash dividend to its shareholders for the year ended 30th September 2014, says a press release The decision was made yesterday at the 30th annual general meeting of the mill held at Spectra Convention Centre at Gulshan-1 in the capital. Professor Mohammad Abdul Momen, chairman of the company, presided over the AGM. Director Muhammad Abdul Moyeen, and Independent Directors–Mushtaque Ahmed, Mohammad Kabiruzzaman and Company Secretary Md Wali Ullah were also present in the meeting.

Bangladesh’s apparel exports will hit US$50 billion in the foreseeable future, the head of apex trade body said. Kazi Akram Uddin Ahmed, president of the Federation of Bangladesh chambers of Commerce and Industry, said that the country has established itself as a model for development in the world. “Bangladesh continues to grow and the women engaged in the readymade garment sector are playing a pivotal role in this regard. It is the main driving force of our economy,” he said. His comments came at the foundation laying of Sultan Habiba Fabrics Mills Ltd, a unit of Saad Musa Industrial Park at Anwara upazila Tuesday afternoon. The country has achieved its independence under the leadership of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and “we are going to achieve our economic emancipation under the bold leadership of Sheikh Hasina,” he said. Chaired by managing director of Saad Musa Industrial Park Mohammed Mohsin, the function was attended as special guests as BGMEA first vice president Nasir Uddin Ahmed, Chittagong Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce and Industry vice president AM Mahbub Chowdhury, industrialist Md Ayub, BGMEA director Abdul Wahab and Anjan Shekhar Das. The meeting was attended by Saad Musa Industrial Park’s DMD Moinuddin Ahmed Chowdhury, director Mahmud Shah and Quamrul Hasan, executive director Golam Jamal Uddin, director (finance) Jahangir Alam and manager Nandan Kumar Datta. Akram said industries are now growing in the rural areas and the mufassil towns are being urbanised. Items of famous brands are being produced in those factories. “We will be competing with London and Singapore if the prevailing situation continues for another 15 years,” he said. Mohsin said at least 50,000 people will get job if the industrial park is implemented fully. He laid foundation of the plant by releasing balloons. Eight mills are already in operation in the industrial park including Rokeya Textile Mills Ltd, Saima Samira Textile Mills Ltd, Emdad Etima Spinning, Mahmud Sajid Cotton Mills and Rokeya Spinning Mills. About 10,000 workers have been employed in those industries, he said.

Customs Bond Commissionerate (CBC) in Dhaka said two export-oriented apparel companies had evaded duty of around Tk12 crore misusing the duty-free bonded warehouse facility. During spot inspections recently, officials found the KC Apparels Limited and M/S Knit Concern Limited, sister concerns of a same business group, storing much higher amounts of raw materials in the bonded warehouses than that registered. The companies are fully export-oriented composite knit industry located at Godanail Road in Narayanganj. The raw materials were imported under the duty-free benefits by the export-oriented factories for the use in their manufacturing only. But they allegedly sell the extra raw materials to local market. The bonded warehouse is place or area where dutiable goods may be stored, manipulated, or undergo manufacturing operations without payment of duty. According to a report by four-member CBC inspection team, KC Apparels stored 985,920 kg of cotton yarn imported misusing the bonded warehouse facility. The original value of the material is Tk19.76 crore while its taxable value is Tk20.16 crore with the company evading Tk7.47 crore tax. As per the another inspection report prepared on the same factory, 374,871.40 kg chemical and 13,990 kg dyes were found higher in its warehouse and 360,971.25 kg of salt was found less compared to the register. The price of the raw materials is Tk12.32 crore, where the taxable value of the product amounts to Tk12.57 crore. The inspection found that the company evaded Tk3.93 crore. Same situation was in the Knit Concern Ltd. According to the inspection report, the company stored 25,849 kg chemical and 15,125 kg dyes additionally, while 98,150 kg of salt was not found stored. The total value of the raw materials is Tk1.87 crore, but the sum will increase to Tk1.90 crore if duties are imposed. As per the CBC report, the Knit Concern Limited evaded Tk59.84 lakh. The taxmen can now confiscate the goods and the people behind the irregularity can now be liable to a penalty not exceeding (five times) the value of the goods, according to the sections of Customs Act, 1969. The section also empowers the taxmen to punish the guilty of rigorous imprisonment for a term not less than three months but not exceeding two years. CBC officials said that a group of corrupt businessmen made huge amounts of money after availing bonded warehouse facility, a duty-waiver benefit on import of raw materials only for the export-oriented industries. Currently, export-oriented factories can avail the duty-free facility on import of raw materials on condition of export of the finished products manufactured with the inputs. The core condition for availing this facility is that the exporters cannot sell the finished products produced with duty-free imported raw materials on the local market. CBC sources said that some 6,197 export-oriented factories are now availing bonded warehouse licences, among which, 3,909 are active importers and exporters. Among them, 80% of the factories are from the RMG sector. A section of businessmen are abusing the facility and selling the raw materials in local market violating the conditions, a high official said. He said the benefit is mostly abused by the RMG factories. The official said the CBC has to work with the limited manpower and so it cannot monitor perfectly.

The country’s export earnings rose by nearly 3% riding on the RMG sector in the first nine months of the current fiscal year. According to Export Promotion Bureau (EPB) provisional data, in July-March of FY 2014-15, Bangladesh earned $22.9bn by exporting goods which is 2.97% higher compared to the same period last year. RMG sector, the highest export earner, contributes over 81% to the total export earnings, said an EPB official. He also said the growth rate would be higher if there is no political unrest in the country. Political unrest dented the production in the factory besides disrupting supply chain, he added. As per the provisional data, woven sector earned $9.55bn, which was 3.6% higher compared to the same period last year, while Knitwear earned $9.05bn posting 2.7% growth. In March, the export earning rose by over 7%, while in February the single month export growth was 5.15%. “RMG export growth was expected to be 10%, which is necessary to reach the target set for the current fiscal year,” BGMEA Vice-President Shahidullah Azim told the Dhaka Tribune. The slow growth will continue till political stability prevails in the country and if the current situation persists, Bangladesh will not be able to reach the export target of $27bn, said Azim. But it is a good sign for garment sector that the work orders from the global buyers started to grow after a three-month lacklustre trend, he said. Azim added that the impact of political unrest would be reflected in the upcoming month as it takes two to three months to execute an order. He urged the opposition parties not to go for any kind of violent programmes, which would hamper production and supply chain.  Bangladesh has set an export target of $33.2bn for the current fiscal year against the last year export earning of $30.18bn.

Praising Bangladesh’s phenomenal socio-economic progress in last few years, Canadian Foreign official said Bangladesh would be the world’s 23rd largest economy by 2050. Director General of South, Southeast Asia and Oceania Division of the Department of Foreign Affairs Peter MacArthur highlighted Bangladesh’s near two billion dollar bilateral trade with Canada, reports BSS. At a seminar in International Development Research Centre (IDRC) in Ottawa, Canada speakers praised the opportunities of foreign trade and investment in Bangladesh. High Commission for Bangladesh in Canada organised the seminar on Bangladesh: Trade and Investment Opportunities’ recently, according to a release received here. Chaired by Kamrul Ahsan, High Commissioner of Bangladesh to Canada, the seminar was addressed, among others, by Brian Main, President of Haggar Canada Company, Steve Tipman, Executive Director, Trade Facilitation Office (TFO) of Canada, Devinder Shory, Canadian Member of Parliament from the ruling Conservative Party and a member of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on International Trade, Dr Mostafa Abid Khan, Acting CEO of Bangladesh Foreign Trade Institution (BFTI) and Alain Brandon, Senior Director of Loblaws Company, Canada’s largest retailer. First Secretary (Commerce) Dewan Mahmud conducted the seminar, while Counsellor Ishrat Ahmed gave vote of thanks. A large number of representatives from Canadian Government, business community, private sectors, academics, scholars, civil society, NGOs as well as the members of Bangladesh community in Canada attended the seminar. Seven panelists, representing the Canadian Government and Parliament of Canada as well as Canadian corporate sectors and an expert from Bangladesh made their presentations on various aspects of economic miracles that have happened in Bangladesh in the recent time as well as the package of investment opportunities that the country has been offering. Brian Main, President of Haggar, a Canada Company, presented on the experience of doing business in Bangladesh, and applauded Bangladesh’s competitiveness as world’s second largest exporter of apparels.

Praising Bangladesh’s phenomenal socio-economic progress in the last few years, a Canadian Foreign official said Bangladesh would be the world’s 23rd largest economy by 2050. Director general of South, Southeast Asia and Oceania Division of the department of foreign affairs Peter MacArthur highlighted Bangladesh’s near two billion dollar bilateral trade with Canada. At a seminar in International Development Research Centre (IDRC) in Ottawa, Canada speakers praised the opportunities Bangladesh offers in the field of foreign trade and investment. High Commission for Bangladesh in Canada organised the seminar on “Bangladesh: Trade and Investment Opportunities” recently, according to a release received in Dhaka. Chaired by Kamrul Ahsan, high commissioner of Bangladesh to Canada, the seminar was addressed, among others, by Brian Main, president of Haggar Canada company, Steve Tipman, executive director, Trade Facilitation Office (TFO) of Canada, Devinder Shory, Canadian member of parliament from the ruling Conservative Party and a member of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on International Trade, Dr Mostafa Abid Khan, acting CEO of Bangladesh Foreign Trade Institution (BFTI), and Alain Brandon, senior director of Loblaws Company, Canada’s largest retailer. Brian Main, president of Haggar, a Canadian company, said on the experience of doing business in Bangladesh, and applauded Bangladesh’s competitiveness as world’s second largest exporter of apparels. He shared his very positive experience in this regard stating that ‘quality’ is the key component of Bangladesh’s manufacturing of ready-made garments. Steve Tipman, executive director, Trade Facilitation Office (TFO) of Canada, spoke on the institutional support for the promotion of trade between Canada and Bangladesh. Devinder Shory, Canadian member of parliament from the ruling Conservative Party and a member of the parliamentary standing committee on international trade presented on the role of Bangladeshi Canadians in the promotion of trade between the two countries, and focused on Canadian government’s ‘Go Global’ policy. Dr Mostafa Abid Khan, acting CEO of Bangladesh Foreign Trade Institution (BFTI) spoke on investment opportunities in Bangladesh including tax structure and customs duty and Bangladesh government’s various initiatives to promote foreign direct investment. He elaborated on why Bangladesh is the second easiest place for doing business in South Asia. Alain Brandon, senior director of Loblaws company, Canada’s largest retailer, spoke on sourcing from Bangladesh. He reiterated his company’s commitment for increased trade with Bangladesh.

After a three and a half decade of journey, the time has come for the second generation to take over the garment business.A majority of first generation apparel unit owners have already handed over the reins to their sons or daughters, or took them in as partners.Alongside exports, many owners have opened up their own brand stores as Bangladesh is also becoming a potential market with the fast-growing middle-income group.Noir, a fashion brand of export-oriented garment group Evince, also made a foray into retail. With the success of their first branch in Banani in July, owners of Noir have now opened their second store on Satmasjid Road in Dhanmondi on April 3.Brothers Shah Adeeb Chowdhury and Shah Rayeed Chowdhury, directors of Evince Group, operate Noir.“We received a good response with Noir. This is why we opened our second branch within a gap of just ten months. We plan to open two more branches in Dhaka by the end of this year,” Rayeed said in an interview with The Daily Star.Noir sells shirts, punjabis, jeans, chinos, T-shirts, handbags, shoes, belts, ties and bracelets for both men and women. “Our targeted customers are the youth, between 17 and 35 years old,” Rayeed said.Since the growing middle-income group is the target segment, the price range of the items has been fixed between Tk 1,600 and Tk 2,000, he said.On their sales trend, they said it increased during Eid, and they expect a good response for upcoming Pahela Boishakh.Our sales also increased with the onset of winter as we have a good collection of winter clothes,” said Rayeed, who graduated in business management from Pace University in New York.“We have our own design studio for garment product development. Our team of experts develops designs as we know our customers’ choices,” said Adeeb, who graduated in fashion and design from National Institute of Fashion and Technology in New Delhi.The brothers have plans to open Noir shops in Thailand and Malaysia, as they look to expand the brand beyond the national borders.“We have not come out from our main businesses of garment and spinning. We have just opened another venture under the same Evince Group,” Rayeed said. The fabrics used to make the garment items are from their own factories, he added. “We have a lot of scope for business in the domestic market, as people prefer branded goods.”Both the brothers have returned to the country upon graduation to join their family business that is owned by Anwarul-ul-Alam Chowdhury Parvez, former president of Bangladesh Garment Manufac-turers and Exporters Association.

Exports rose 7.43 percent year-on-year to $2.93 billion in March, a development which has brought a ray of sunshine amid the gloomy economic prospects.The figure takes the total export earnings so far in fiscal 2014-15 to $23.24 billion, up 2.98 percent year-on-year, according to data from the central bank.“Our exports could have grown more as we have a lot of work orders from international retailers. But the political unrest has been getting in our way,” said Atiqul Islam, president of Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association.Garment products account for more than 80 percent of the country’s total export basket.The impact of the current stretch of political unrest would manifest in the export earnings three or four months later, as garment makers bagged fewer than normal orders from retailers between January and March.“We were supposed to grow by 14 percent per month, but 7.43 percent growth is not adequate to achieve the target,” Islam said.The garment exporters though did not face any major difficulties in transporting consignments to the Chittagong port, as the Dhaka-Chittagong highway was free from any major untoward incident, he added.The other reason for the uptick in exports is the pick-up in apparel orders from the US in recent months.After the long downward trend, garment exports to the US have started showing positive movement from March.In the January-February period garment exports to the US registered 2.82 percent growth from the previous year to $881 million, according to data from the US Department of Commerce.After the Rana Plaza building collapse in April 2013, garment exports to the US dropped as retailers were waited for signs of progress in workplace safety.But the retailers have been coming back with a handful of orders after the Accord and Alliance in September last year said more than 98 percent of the country’s garment factories are safe, Islam said.Both Accord and Alliance have completed inspections of more than 1,700 factories across the country and are now monitoring the implementation of the corrective action plans suggested by the inspection engineers.