A four-day GAP Expo-2014 along with two other fairs, Garmentech Bangladesh-2014 and International Yard and Fabric Sourcing, held simultaneously at Bangabandhu International Conference Centre (BICC) in the capital concluded yesterday, exceeding visitors’ turn out of the previous year.
Foreign exhibitors have witnessed a better response from the potential buyers compared to the local participants as the fair was crowded during the last couple of days. Bangladesh Garment Accessories and Packaging Manufacturers & Exporters Association (BGAPMEA), Zakaria Trade and Fair International and AKS Trade and Exhibitions jointly organised the fairs to bring the buyers and sellers under a same platform.
“The overall response has surpassed our expectations and we are now going to put more focus on Bangladesh market, where yarn business has always been a profitable one,” said Manoj Prabhakar of Sudhan Yarns, an Indian company.
Being cheered up with the success of the fair, he also hinted that his company was mulling to expand its business plan to capture a greater a good portion of Bangladeshi market.
Over half a thousand participants from 25 countries across the globe displayed a wide-range of garment accessories, packaging and related machinery including labels, zippers, tags, tapes, thread, ribbon, buttons, rivets, laces, hooks, transfer film, paper and ink.
The displayed products also include pre-press equipment, mounted corrugated machine, sheet cutter and pressing, rotary cutting, creasing machine and trouser hooks fixing machines.
“It was a great relief for us to see some orders after a long break following an end to the countrywide political unrests, which had virtually pushed us out of business for couple of months,” said Forhad Hossain, manager of Bangkor Trading Corporation.
The show was aimed at showcasing the latest garment manufacturing technologies, yarn and fabrics and garment accessories and packaging under one-roof to attract country’s readymade garment (RMG) entrepreneurs.
Total export of the garment accessories and packaging manufacturers amounted to $4.1bn during the last fiscal year.