Plastic goods makers seek govt support to recover losses due to political unrest

FE Report | Published: January 29, 2014 00:00:00 | Updated: November 30, 2026 06:01:00

Country's plastic goods manufacturers sought necessary supports including regaining GSP facilities in the US market to help recoup the losses they sustained due to the recent political turmoil.
They put forward the demand Tuesday at a press conference ahead of the International Plastic Fair 2014 to be held in the city from February 20 to 23.
They mentioned that the plastic industry sustained losses to the tune of nearly Tk 40 billion during the last three months following political unrest.
The small and medium factories are in more vulnerable situation. The overall shipment hampered severely following the political unrest.
The plastic goods makers also demanded reduction of tax at source from 0.8 per cent to 0.3 per cent so that they can recover from the present position.
The 9th international plastic goods and machineries fair will be held under joint initiative by the BPGMEA and Chan Chao International, Co ltd in Taiwan. The fair will be held at the Bangabandhu International Conference Centre (BICC).
Bangladesh Plastic Goods Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BPGMEA) president Jashim Uddin said the industry needs government support to recover their losses.
As small industry government should give more attention to it, he said. Small and medium factories need government support as many of those are unable to pay bank loan in time, he said.
He sought incentives as they cannot tap the US market potentialities following the suspension of Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) by the importing country.
The BPGMEA president termed the suspension of GSP facilities an unjust decision by the US government as the manufacturers of plastic and other products who exported to the US have no fault.
The BPGMEA leaders claimed the country took such decision on political ground.
The fair will display plastic products as well as machineries. A large number of foreign companies will attend the fair including China, India Pakistan, Taiwan, Korea, Thailand, the USA, Vietnam, UAE, Singapore, Italy, Indonesia and Malaysia. A total of 350 stalls will be opened in the fair of those 180 are from foreign countries.
The industry leaders said they were in confusion over the holding of the latest expo because of political uncertainty. They also have a plan to hold such fair in every two years.
Ex BPGMEA president Yusuf Ashraf, Ferdous Wahid, Shahedul Islam Helal, senior vice president Gias Uddin Ahmed and general secretary K M Iqbal Hossain, among others, were present in the press briefing.