Diversify denim products to increase exports

Bangladeshi denim makers should bring diversity to their products as the items have bright prospects for their competitive prices and quality, foreign envoys said at a programme in the capital on Thursday.

“You should not only increase the number of international buyers, but also bring variety to your products,” said Wanja Campos da Nóbrega, Brazilian ambassador to Bangladesh.

Exports of Bangladesh's denim products will grow further, he said at the closing ceremony of the two-day Bangladesh Denim Expo at Bashundhara Convention City in Dhaka.

Alexander A Nikolaev, the Russian ambassador, urged the organisers of the denim show to invite Russian denim companies to the expo next year, as Russia could also be a major market for such Bangladeshi products.

“Please send information well in advance, so that Russian companies can participate in the expo. We want such expos, organised by Bangladeshi denim makers, in Russia as well,” Nikolaev said.

Hanne Fugl Eskjaer, Danish ambassador in Dhaka, said the demand for denim products is on the rise because they are environment friendly.

New technologies and increasing fabric diversity are the challenges to maintaining steady growth of Bangladesh's denim exports, said Robert Gibson, the British high commissioner.

“The British customers purchase a lot of denim products from Bangladesh,” Gibson said. Investing in skills improvement will increase productivity and the private sector has to lead the effort, he said. 

“The government will also have to play a very vital role in taking the denim sector ahead,” Gibson said.

Currently, Bangladesh exports denim products worth $3.5 billion a year, and stakeholders are working to double that number by the end of 2021, said Faruque Hassan, vice-president of Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association.

Atiqul Islam, the immediate past BGMEA president, thanked the two factory inspection agencies -- Accord and Alliance -- for inspecting the factories as they helped restore the sector's image.

“After the inspection, now we can proudly say we are a compliant nation as the engineers did not find any major flaws,” Islam said.

The government is in talks with Qatar to import liquefied natural gas to meet the local supply gap, said Tawfiq-e-Elahi Chowdhury, energy adviser to the prime minister.

Some 39 participants from home and abroad showcased their products at the expo, said Mostafiz Uddin, founder and CEO of Bangladesh Denim Expo.

Of them, 14 are local and the other 25 are foreign, mainly from India, Pakistan, the US, China, Turkey, Singapore, Japan and Germany, he said.

The fourth and fifth denim expo will be held in Dhaka in April and November next year, said Mostafiz, also the managing director of Chittagong-based Denim Expert Ltd.

In Bangladesh, a total of 30 mills produce 21 million yards of denim fabric a month.

Investment in the denim sector also increased due to high demand; it will cross the Tk 7,500-crore mark soon.

Bangladeshi entrepreneurs supply denim products to retailers such as H&M, Uniqlo, Levi's, Nike, Tesco, Wrangler, s.Oliver, Hugo Boss, Puma, Primark and JC Penney.