Bangladesh Denim Expo ended here yesterday with pledges of making the country’s denim industry sustainable for sourcing and earning US$7bn by 2021.
“Bangladesh denim producers will be able to increase Bangladesh market share of denim products to $7bn from the existing $3.5bn by 2021,” State Minister for Foreign Affairs Shahriar Alam told the concluding session of the expo in the city.
“Bangladesh’s RMG sector will be able to cross the $50bn mark by 2021 while denim will play a vital role to reach the target.”
Speaking as chief guest, the minister also hoped that the RMG sector would play a significant role in converting Bangladesh to a middle-income country.
Lauding the organizer of the expo, Alam observed that this type of single expo on denim and jeans products would help to gain more shares in the global market.
“We are mulling to set up offices in Bangladesh to expedite operations smoothly as it is the second largest sourcing country and a major supplier of denim products,” said Levent Cayli, managing director of the Denimco, a Turkish denim producers.
Mostafiz Uddin, managing director of Denim Expert Limited and CEO of the Bangladesh Denim Expo, said, “As we’ve got overwhelming response from the global brands and retailers, we are going to organise another show on November 11 and 12 in Dhaka with an aim to make Bangladesh Denim industry a sustainable one.”
A two-day Bangladesh Denim Expo was held in Dhaka from Monday in the capital to attract global buyers through displaying new fashion trends and products.
The expo was aimed at fetching $7bn by exporting denim products, which would help the RMG sector to achieve a $50bn export target by 2021.
Currently, there are 27 denim factories in the country in the RMG sector with an investment of $900m,while about 10 factories are poised to come into operation soon.
Local denim factories produce around 30 million yards of fabrics a month, meeting half of the local consumption.
Among the global players in the $60bn denim market, Bangladesh lags behind China, the US, Italy and some Latin American countries.
Senior Secretary of the Ministry of Commerce Hedayetullah Al Mamoon, Ambassador of Australia to Bangladesh Greg Wilcock, Ambassador of Switzerland to Bangladesh Christian Martin Fotsch, BGMEA President Atiqul Islam and BGMEA Vice President Shahidullah Azim attended the concluding ceremony.
