A consumer drinks a Royal Tiger brand energy drink. The Globe Soft Drinks' Royal Tiger and Akij Food & Beverages' Speed are now being sold abroad. “We are receiving orders from foreign buyers. The amounts are small but it's a good start,” says an official of Globe Soft Drinks.Photo: STAR

The producer of energy drink Royal Tiger has stared exporting the product, competing head to head in the Middle East with international brands such as Red Bull.
“We are receiving orders from buyers. The amounts are small but it's a good start,” said Md Khairul Anam, Sales & Marketing Director of Globe Soft Drinks.
The Globe Soft Drinks' Royal Tiger, the leading brand in the energy drink segment in Bangladesh, is now being sold in Qatar and Dubai.
Royal Tiger will be the second energy drink from Bangladesh to be exported, following the example of Akij Food & Beverages' Speed which has been sold in the United Arab Emirates, Malaysia and Bahrain since last year.
“We have sent our first consignments to Qatar and Dubai. We hope to send another consignment soon,” Khairul said, adding that some $70,000 worth of orders from Dubai and $25,000 from Qatar were now in their pocket.
The Globe official said export earnings from the Tiger brand drink so far stood at $18,500 out of total earnings of about $1 lakh.
“Our product is competitive in terms of both quality and price,” he said.
The company, one of the main players in the local soft drinks market, started to focus on exports to make full use of the production capacity of its factory and tap the growing demands for energy drinks on the global market.
“There is huge market for energy drinks globally and it is growing. There are products from countries like China and Thailand, why not our products?” he said.
The item may also win customers among Bangladeshi workers living in Middle Eastern countries.
The energy drink, advertised as being specifically designed to provide more energy than a typical drink, now controls between 10 and 20 percent of the soft drinks market worth around Tk 650 crore a year.
The consumption of the item is continuing to grow despite costing about twice as much as normal soft drinks based on the interests of young and adult people in urban and semi urban areas.
Khairul said the company has appointed its agents in Saudi Arabia and Kuwait to aid exports.
But the official requirement to term the beverage as 'carbonated' instead of an energy drink affects exports.
“Globally it is known as energy drink. But we cannot use the name as there is specification in government's official list. It sometimes affects our exports,” he said.
[email protected]