Cable industry thriving

The cable industry has been thriving for the last couple of years owing to rapid urbanisation and industrialisation as well as almost 100 per cent electrification across the country.

Local production now meets 100 per cent of the household demand and more than 80 per cent of the industrial demand, said Bangladesh Electrical Cables Manufacturers Association (BECMA) President ABM Arshad Hossain.

Industry insiders said the extension of power gridlines, growing urbanisation, and industrialisation had encouraged big local manufacturers like Partex and Bizli to invest in this sector.

“The cable market is now to the tune of about Tk 10,000-12,000 crore with annual growth of nearly 15 to 20 per cent. The market size was only Tk 6,000 crore in 2017,” said Md Rafiqul Islam Rony, director (sales and marketing) of BRB Cable Industries.

He said his company’s yearly turnover is around Tk 2,500-3,000 crore, and there is surplus production every year. Local manufacturers would have had better business if foreign companies had not come here, he added.    

“The cable import volume is quite high despite sufficient local production. This is because of the obligation to use foreign loans in various development projects of the government. The loans are often given with the condition that project materials have to be imported from the lenders’ countries,” Rony explained.

Md Akter Uddin, manager (marketing) of the company, told The Business Post private and public infrastructure development was boosting the cable industry.

He said his company’s market share is more than 45 per cent.

BECMA says there are about 200 cable manufacturers in the country, including about 10 giants producing A-class cables. There are 60-70 medium-sized companies manufacturing B-class cables.

Besides, there are more than 100 small manufacturers that directly and indirectly employ nearly four lakh people. 

A high official of Bizli Cables owned by Pran-RFL Group said their last year’s sales had exceeded Tk 600 crore despite the coronavirus pandemic.

BBS Cables annual report shows it had sold cables worth Tk 637.9 crore in the 2020-21 fiscal year while its net profit was Tk 93.02 crore.   

According to the Export Promotion Bureau, Bangladesh exported power cables worth Tk 8.18 crore in the last fiscal year. The export destinations were Canada, China, India, the Netherlands, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, and the US.

“Bangladesh usually imports some high-frequency power cables used in bridges and industries. But BRB, Poly, SQ Wire and Cable, and Bizli now manufacture high-voltage power cables for industrial use,” the BECMA president said.

BRB, BBS, Paradise, Partex, Bizli, SQ, RR Imperial, Poly, and Eastern are the major cable manufacturers in the country. Local manufacturers depend on raw materials imported from Chile, China, India, Oman, Malaysia, South Korea, and Singapore.

Most of the top manufacturers make around 20 types of cables, such as aluminium, silicon, power, railway signalling, submersible, flexible, telecommunication, and so on.

Md Kamal Hussain Mridul, vice-president of Bangladesh Electrical Merchandise Manufacturers Association, told The Business Post only some high-frequency cables used in industries are imported from China.

Meanwhile, some small companies have suspended cable production as they are unable to compete against the giants dominating the market. They said they had invested Tk 3-4 crore, which was not enough to compete against big manufacturers.

They further said unlike small manufacturers, big companies can sell products worth Tk 10-20 crore to a single trader on credit. That is why traders are not interested in buying products from small companies.   

Kamal Hossain Mazumder, director of Elco Wires and Cables, a new company in the industry, told The Business Post they only have Tk 30 crore in working capital though their production capacity is Tk 500 crore.

Cable traders in Nawabpur Road and Gulistan in the capital said non-brand cables make up about 20 per cent of the market share.
Md Hussain, a customer who came to Gulistan from Savar, told The Business Post he had bought non-brand cables for his new house due to a price gap of Tk 500-800 per coil.