Demand to facilitate plastic industrial growth

Rashid Ali Khan, managing director of Naseem Plastic Industries Ltd, speaks at a press conference organised to mark the company's 60th anniversary in Dhaka yesterday. Naseem Group

The government should take measures to reduce import duties and provide cash incentives on exports, to encourage the local plastic industry to manufacture multi-dimensional products on a large scale, said the managing director of Naseem Plastic Industries Limited yesterday.
“If the government assists the plastic industry with reduced import duties and cash incentives on export, it will help boost the national economy further by producing more import substitutes,” said Rashid Ali Khan, suggesting discouraging imports of the items produced locally.
He was speaking at a press conference organised to mark his company's 60 years of operations at its corporate office in Dhaka.
“We have to import all our raw materials from different countries. So if the government reduces duties on the import of raw materials, it would accelerate the industry's growth," said Khan.
He suggested the government implement copyright acts, which would help guard local inventions from being duplicated by other producers at home and abroad.
He also sought formulation of a new export policy, which would provide cash incentives on exports, and educate plastic industry people by introducing the latest technologies to produce high quality products.
Currently, the local market size for plastic goods is worth Tk 4,000 crore per year, of which, Naseem Plastic Industries Ltd alone has an annual turnover of Tk 1,000 crore, according to Bangladesh Plastic Goods Manufacturers and Exporters Association data.
The local plastic industry exports products worth Tk 600 crore a year, while the country has the potential to export Tk 1200 crore, said industry insiders.
Naseem Plastic Industries Ltd products range from various sheets, including polycarbonate sheets, PP sheets, HIPS sheets and polystyrene sheets, billboards, POPs, POSMs, dispensers, danglers, banner stands, shop signs, kiosks, road safety signs, scroll signs, tri-vision, zigzag signs, hangers, LED signs, automated moving signs and electro-magnetic signs.
Shahid Ali Khan, chairman, and Iqbal Ali Khan, director, were also present.