India eying non-cotton market of Bangladesh 

Indian man-made fibre (MMF) suppliers are eying to capture the market of the country thanks to the rapid growth of Bangladesh’s non-cotton apparel manufacturing sector.

Industry insiders said dozens of Indian man-made fibre (MMF) fabrics suppliers are already exporting to Bangladesh and hold around 10 per cent market share from the total import.  Some of them are trying to enter the market.

As part of the efforts, Bangladesh’s apparel leaders and leading MMF manufacturers visited India at their invitation.

Now dozens of Indian non-cotton fabrics producers have come to Bangladesh to participate in an exhibition to introduce their goods and attract apparel manufacturers.

Cedaar Textile, India produced around $30 million MMF and fabrics from it annually and 60 per cent was exported to Bangladesh.

“We have been doing business in Bangladesh since 2002 and now its apparel manufacturers are expanding their business to non-cotton-based goods. We have more than 50 customers here and we want to increase it more,” its Marketing Manager Gobinda Ghosh told The Business Post.

He said: “China is gradually shifting from MMF production and we want to take this place.”

Manish Kashyap, Vice President (sales and marketing) of Rajkrupa Textiles, said he had come to Bangladesh for the first time to forge a relationship with its exporters.

“I think, Bangladesh would be our main export destination if we are able to convince them,” Manish said.

However, Bangladesh’s apparel manufacturers claimed that an Indian non-cotton fabric price is higher than China and they did not have enough capacity to meet the country’s demand.

Some of the manufacturers also claimed that quality of most of their woven fabrics is not good to manufacture export-oriented clothes.

“I visited India a few months ago and found that the quality of their woven fabrics is not good enough,” Md Khosru Chowdhury, Managing Director of Nipa Group told The Business Post.

“But their Polyester Knitted Fabric (PKF) quality is quite good and I have already started to import from India. But they have only around 10 per cent capacity to meet our PKF demand,” he added.

The BGMEA claimed that Bangladesh is now exporting around 25 per cent of non-cotton goods from their total clothes export despite global demand for 72 per cent.

However, currently Bangladesh has witnessed around 15-20 per cent growth rate in man-made fibre goods export due to the high demand in the global market. This is why India is trying to boost their business in Bangladesh. 

The Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) President Faruque Hassan told The Business Post, “India is trying to create strong MMF supply chain and they showed interest to increase business relation with us.”

Though there are still some barriers it can be removed soon, he added.

MMF is primarily used to produce 100 per cent non-cotton fabrics and blended fabrics, which are in turn used in readymade garments, home textiles and other industrial textiles.

India is the global second largest MMF manufacturing country and stands 6th with 16 per cent of the share in the global MMF textile market, according to the National Investment Promotion and Facilitation Agency of India.

To grow this industry India has removed the anti-dumping duty on Purified Terephthalic Acid (PTA), a key raw material for the manufacture of man-made fiber and yarn.

Now the country has produced almost all types of synthetic fibres, be it polyester, viscose, nylon or be it acrylic.

But they have only around 15 per cent market share in Bangladesh due to the high price of MMF or its fabrics than in China.

Many Indian MMF companies have been doing business with Bangladesh for a long time and some are trying to enter here.

However, Bangladesh’s apparel manufacturers claimed that if they are able to reduce prices and land port trouble is solved, the lead time will be cut to 15 days while currently it needs a minimum of 25 days to import from China.

“We have to face competition in the global market and price is most important here. Except for a few Indian MMF manufacturers, most of their price is higher than China,” Shahidullah Azim, Vice President of BGMEA and a woven clothes exporter, told The Business Post.

Asked about the high price and low quality, Manish Kashyap said their price is slightly higher than China and does not have enough capacity to meet demand. But it will drop gradually when Bangladeshi manufacturers will increase imports.

“But our quality is better than China. We requested Bangladeshi manufacturers to visit India and evaluate to see which one is better,” he added.