Home ›› 27 Jul 2021 ›› News
Lack of raw materials, skilled manpower, funding, policy support and inherent technological disadvantages are some of the fundamental issues holding back the local manufacturers from getting a foothold in Bangladesh’s mobile accessories market currently dominated by Chinese companies.
Traders associated with the sector claim that they import mobile accessories worth an estimated Tk 1,000 crore annually to meet the domestic demand. The imported items include –headphones and earphones, power banks, protective cases, screen protectors, portable speakers, wireless chargers and battery.
With the number of mobile phone users increasing, the demand for accessories is also rising. The country had 175.27 million at the end of May this year, according to Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission.
Secretary TapanKanti Ghosh of the Ministry of Commerce said that the government is “working to formulate a policy” and address other issues related to the manufacturing of mobile phone accessories.
MdShahinurAlam, general manager, Imam Telecom said, “The raw materials which are needed to make mobile phone accessories are not available in our country and this forces us to import the accessories from China.”
“We import battery, power banks, chargers, protective cases, screen protectors, and portable speakers to meet the local demand. There are some local manufacturers who are trying to meet the demand,” he added.
But any large-scale manufacturing plant is yet to be set up in the country.
Local electronic giant Walton is running a battery assembling plant but it is not enough to meet the market demand. But the biggest challenge is the difference in prices between locally produced accessories and those imported from China.
“Cheap and low quality accessories from China have flooded the market,” said Fahim Rashid, deputy executive director of Walton.
He said they import raw materials from China, South Korea and Malaysia to produce mobile accessories including batteries, chargers and headphones.
“Mobile accessories market is growing 30 percent to 40 percent every year as mobile users are growing exponentially. If proper policy support and skilled manpower is developed, Bangladesh could save a staggering amount of money that is spent on import of mobile accessories,” he told The Business Post.
Fahim said that around 2,000 to 3,000 people are working in the mobile accessories sector.
Bangladesh Cellular Phone Accessories Importers and Merchants Association, a representative of some 200 business organisations, said that almost all of the mobile phone accessories available in the market are imported from China.
“Our mobile phone accessories market is basically import dependent as 95 per cent of the market is occupied by products from China,” Md Moin Uddin, the association’s president, told The Business Post.“We import mobile accessories from China because of the price.”
ButMdKhairulKabir Mia, secretary of international trade and agreement of National Board of Revenue (NBR) said that they have no specific data on how many mobile accessories are imported every year.
In a report published in July 2019, the Grand View Research, an India and US based market research and consulting company, noted thatthe global mobile accessories market is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 7.1 per cent from 2019 to 2025 to reach $110.6 billion by 2025.
The report said that in 2018, Asia Pacific led the market with a share of 45 per cent and is believed to see significant growth in the near future. In Asia Pacific, China contributed to the majority of share and accounted for 55 per cent share of the overall revenue in 2018.
Md Noman, a salesman of Source of Product, located at Eastern Plaza, Hatirpool said, “Consumers prefer Chinese mobile accessories because of affordability. More than 90 per cent of products in our shop are from China.”
SaminaAfroz, owner of Gadget Shop at Banasree, Rampura said, “Our mobile phone accessories are mainly imported from China. The business is better compared to recent years.”
“We only have China mobile phone accessories in our shop. Many customers prefer thembecause they are cheaper than products of other brands,” she told The Business Post.
