EC restrictions disappoint paper manufacturers, printing presses

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Jasim Uddin Haroon
The country's paper mills have failed to make a brisk business this time as the Election Commission (EC) has set rules limiting the use of posters for election campaigns cutting sale of paper by more than 50 percent of what they had expected.
As per the EC rules, around 1500 candidates for the December 29 polls have been barred from pasting posters on walls. They are only allowed to hang those on the lanes. Besides, the size of posters has been reduced to 18x23 inches.
As a result, the country's over 5000 printing houses with around 60,000 workers will also suffer due to the stringent rules.
Officials of the paper mills Friday told the FE that they now expected to sell around 1500 tonnes of printing paper during the current election campaign as against around 5000 tonnes sold during 2001 national polls.
Currently, the price of printing paper is Tk 85000 a tonne.
"Eighteen private paper mills have so far sold around 1000 tonnes in additional printing paper needed for posters. We expect to sell 500 tonnes more during the remaining days," Mustafizur Rahman, deputy managing director of Bashundhara Paper Mills Limited.
Paper millers said there is a stock of around 700-800 tonnes.
Mustafiz, however, said they expect a good business during the next Upazila and Union Parishad polls. The Upazila polls will be held in January next year.
Md Selim, a senior official at the TK Group, which runs a paper mill, told the FE that the sale of paper was well below their expectation.
"It is much less than what we had expected," Mr Selim added.
Akram Hossain, president of Bangladesh Paper Merchants' Association, a group of around 600 paper merchant across the country, told the FE that the sale volume was too low this time compared with the one recorded during 2001 polls.