Five-day extension likely as DITF draws crowds

Businessmen participating in the Dhaka International Trade Fair 2018 proposed extension of the fair for five more days to February 5, reports UNB.

Mohammad Abdur Rouf, member secretary of DITF, told the news agency that they on Wednesday received an application from the businessmen seeking a five-day extension of the trade fair and sent it to the Commerce Ministry.

The decision in this regard will be made by January 30.

To take decision over extension of the fair a meeting will be held between Export Promotion Bureau (EPB), the organiser of the country's annual flagship event for promoting export, and Commerce Ministry, he added.

In last year, the Dhaka International Trade Fair was extended by four days following the demand of participating businessmen and visitors.

FE Rport adds: The Dhaka International Trade Fair (DITF) at Agargaon in the capital experienced a huge crowd on Friday, a weekly holiday, as the shoppers thronged the fair to cash in on its end sales.

Almost all the stalls and pavilions were giving various free offers, gifts and price discount to the customers to brand their products and fulfill sales targets.

Visiting the fair, the FE correspondent found thousands of people crowding in the fair from noon with friends and family members to buy their desired products at competitively lower price.

Talking to the FE, Niaz Ahmed, a banker who came to the fair with his two friends, said he bought a 42" LCD TV for his family living in Tangail. The item saves him around Tk 10,000 comparing to its showroom price as he checked last month.

He also bought a pair of blazers from a stall, as it offered 40 per cent off on the products.

Another shopper, Naznin Akter, said she bought a set of curtains for her home and some artificial flowers for room decoration.

However, she expressed dissatisfaction over the huge crowd competing with one another to visit the stalls.

Kartik Sarker, who came out of a foreign pavilion, told the FE, "It seems most of the products displayed at the foreign stalls sourced these from local market."

Product quality of most of these stalls is relatively low and overpriced, he added.

According to Export Promotion Bureau (EPB), apart from various local companies, companies from a total of 17 foreign countries including India, Bhutan, Pakistan, China, the United States, the United Kingdom, Nepal, Japan, Australia, Germany, Hong Kong and the Arab Emirates participated in the fair this year.

Sales representatives and stall/pavilion in-charges said they remained very busy from around 12 pm on the day answering queries of customers and selling different products to them.

Meanwhile, sufferings of the visitors rushing to the fair continue on the day due to long queues for entering the fair and immense traffic congestion on the roads adjacent to the fair area.

The trade fair will continue till January 31.

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