Exports of the country's chemical items posted 20 per cent growth in the July-May period of the current fiscal, despite total export falls against target.
Industry people attributed the significant growth to the better quality of local products and their competitive prices.
According to the data of the Export Promotion Bureau (EPB), the sector earned US$ 104.39 million from export during the period, which was $88.06 million in the same period of previous fiscal.
The chemical items include pharmaceutical, cosmetics, chemical fertiliser and some other traditional and non-traditional products.
"There is a big demand for local cosmetics among the non-resident Bangladeshis that helped us achieve a significant growth in the current financial year (FY) 2014-15," Abu Jafor Abdullah, managing partner of Nice Beauty Products, a sub-sector of chemical item, told the FE Thursday.
"Besides, foreign nationals are increasingly showing interest in the local beauty items mainly because of their better quality and prices," he said. Â
"Many of the country's beauty items producing companies are now trying to upgrade their products to cater to the increasing demand both in local and foreign markets," Mr Abdullah said.
Cosmetics sector insiders said the upgradation of quality is also helping them save a substantial amount of foreign currencies that would have been spent for importing beauty items. According to the industry people, local consumers are now increasingly choosing domestic products as the items have in the mean time succeeded to earn confidence in their customers, considering those of international standard.
However, according to the exporters, locally- made herbal items topped the list among other items.
"More than 60 per cent of exported cosmetics are from the herbal items," Amena Anjum, who exports herbal cosmetics to the United Kingdom and the United Arab Emirates told the FE.
Non-resident Bangladeshis living in the UK are her main consumers. Besides, the English and the Arabian women are also now choosing the company's products," she added.
According to Mrs Amena, local producers are also exporting their goods to India. The cosmetics sub-sector has earned more than 170 per cent growth during the period. However, pharmaceuticals, the main export earning sub-sector of the chemical items, also fetched nearly 5.0 per cent export growth at the same time.
Local companies now export their products to around 30 countries around the world including Myanmar, Nepal, Kenya, Libya, Sri Lanka, Vietnam, Afghanistan, Iraq and Ukraine and Yemen. They blamed the absence of internationally-recognised testing laboratory for further expansion of the sector.
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Exports of chemical items grow 20pc
Badrul Ahsan | Published: June 28, 2015 00:00:00 | Updated: November 30, 2024 06:01:00
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