Bangladesh's cable market is growing at 15-20 percent a year thanks to the expansion of power gridlines as the government looks to provide electricity for all by 2021.

In 2017, the cable manufacturing industry was worth about Tk 6,000 crore, up from Tk 2,000 crore 10 years ago, according to Ushamoy Chakma, managing director of Eastern Cables.

“The demand for cables is increasing due to the expansion of power grid lines across the country in the last four years,” he said.

There are more than 70 cable manufacturers in the market but the market leader is BRB with a 41 percent share, followed by Eastern at 15 percent, BBS at 13 percent, Paradise, Partex and Bizli at 6.5 percent each, and SQ at 5.3 percent.

The other players account for 22.2 percent of the market.

The cable manufacturers are dependent on raw material imports from Chile, China, India, Oman, Malaysia, South Korea and Singapore.

Chakma said their market survey found that the sector witnessed an average growth of 15 percent in the last 15 years.

The demand for cable is not only for the gridlines, it also has a big market in the housing and industrial sectors, he said.

The local players would have thrived more had they gotten the big contracts of the Bangladesh Power Development Board and Rural Electrification Board; those go to Chinese vendors thanks to their lower offers.

“The project implementation agencies prefer Chinese companies because of their lower prices -- without any care for the quality of the product. Bangladeshi companies are now manufacturing world-class

conductors and cables,” he added.

Rafiqul Islam Rony, head of marketing and sales of BRB Cable, said the sector will witness further growth in the coming years as the government has a master plan to supply power to all.

He went on to express concern about the substandard cables manufactured by the non-branded companies.

“At least 120 companies are manufacturing cables and wires in Bangladesh but not many maintain quality,” he added.  

Counterfeit products, inadequate quality control and products made with low-quality raw materials are the main challenges for the sector, said Md. Mosharraf Hossain, chairman of Paradise Group.

He went on to inform users about the importance of certification of international cable certification bodies.