Printers race against time to manufacture election posters

Printing presses in the city nowadays are passing busy time to cater the demand for printed materials like posters and leaflets to be used for electioneering during the upcoming 12th national election.
They are now under pressure to print materials like posters, handbills, paper caps, leaflets, stickers and badges while manufacturing costs of the items have witnessed a significant hike as well, insiders said.
With only five days left for the formal election campaign to kick off on December 18, they have taken all-out preparations to meet the demand amid their busy schedule of December for the regular publication of the New Year (2024) accessories like calendar, diaries and notebooks.
However, some of the press operators said they avoid receiving orders for publishing campaign materials because many candidates or their representative do not make their payments as promised.
Discussion with stakeholders and visits to printing hubs in the city's Fakirapool, Arambagh, and Old Dhaka's Zindabahar revealed that different activities like preparation of campaign materials including posters, graphic design works, paper selections, printing and trimming were afoot.
Abid Hassan Biplob, owner of a small press in Old Dhaka's Zindabahar area, said a typical-size poster is printed with a paper of 23 inches height and 18 inches width and the paper quality varies from 60gsm to 70 gsm.
One has to give a work order for printing at least 1,000 pieces of poster at a single time, he said, adding at the present market each poster will cost around Tk3, which was below Tk2 during the previous national election.
"The more posters you print in the same design, the cheaper will be the rate," he said and added minimum three days will be required to deliver the order.
"We are very busy now; so you have to give us adequate time," he said.
In addition to posters, campaign activists are also looking to publish leaflets, handbills, banners, festoons and stickers to draw voters' attention, said Idris Ali, proprietor of Sonar Madina Printing Press.
As per the schedule declared by the Election Commission (EC), the 12th national election will be held on January 7 and the candidacies could run campaign between December 18 and January 5.
According to sources, there are around 7,000 printing presses across the country with an annual turnover of around Tk120 billion (Tk12,000 crore).
Contacted, immediate past chairman of Printing Industries Association of Bangladesh (PIAB), Shahid Serneabat, said poster making activities create a festive environment at the presses.
"I believe there will be day-night activities in the printing houses as soon as the formal campaign begins," said Mr Serneabat who led the trade body for a decade.
He estimated that each constituency will witness spending of around Tk3.0million-Tk4.0million for printing election materials resulting in almost Tk1.0 billion brisk business.
"We are hopeful that this season will give a better business for the sector as quite a good number of candidates are going to vie for the national parliament membership," said Mr Serneabat.
A total of 2, 713 candidates have submitted nomination papers to the Election Commission (EC) for the upcoming election whereas 1,861 vied for the last general election in 2018.
Sources said with the rise in digitalisation trend, a good amount of campaign budget is moving away from paper to digital arena.
Regarding the increased cost, a paper trader, Alamgir Patwary, said costs of raw materials including paper and ink along with the workers' wages have risen exorbitantly.
"At present per tonne white print paper sells at Tk1,60,000 which was around Tk 70,000 before the Covid-19 pandemic, " he said, adding mostly 55-70 gsm quality paper is used for posters.

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