Indian manufacturers and suppliers of man-made fiber (MMF), also known as non-cotton or synthetic fiber, are eying for a huge chunk of market share from Bangladesh's apparel sector.
Indian suppliers said that there was a huge untapped scope for increasing exports of Indian MMF textiles to Bangladesh as Bangladeshi suppliers were moving towards non-cotton apparel manufacturing.
Several Indian MMF suppliers revealed this while speaking to Dhaka Tribune on the sidelines of the third edition of Intex South Asia 2022 held in the capital recently.
They also said that dozens of Indian MMF fabrics suppliers were already supplying MMF to Bangladesh, but India’s share in Bangladesh’s total import of MMF textiles was only 12-15%.
Moreover, a number of new companies were trying to enter the Bangladesh market.
However, domestic manufacturers said that the Indian MMF variety was pricier than its Chinese counterpart, so it would be difficult to grow their market in Bangladesh unless they lowered their prices.
To attract local apparel manufacturers, dozens of Indian MMF fabric suppliers participated in the expo and introduced their products.
Rajkrupa Textiles (India) Private Limited is an Ahmedabad-based MMF manufacturer.
Manish Kashyap, vice-president (sales and marketing) of the company, told Dhaka Tribune that Bangladesh could be one of the stronger non-cotton apparel manufacturing countries, so they wanted to create strong business ties with the country’s apparel manufacturers.
“We came to Bangladesh for the first time to establish ties with its exporters. I think Bangladesh would be our main export destination for MMF if we are able to convince them,” Kashyap added.
Cedaar Textiles Pvt Limited, a Bengaluru based company, produces around $30 million worth of MMF and its fabrics annually, and exports 60% of them to Bangladesh.
Talking to Dhaka Tribune, Gobinda Ghosh, marketing manager of Cedaar Textiles, said that they were doing business with Bangladesh since 2002, and now its apparel manufacturers were expanding their business to non-cotton base goods.
“Though we have more than 50 customers here, we want to increase more,” he added.
Chetanshu Jangir, marketing manager of United Polyfab Gujarat Ltd, another Ahmedabad-based company, told Dhaka Tribune that Bangladesh was gradually transitioning towards MMF manufacturing.
“Bangladesh is the second largest apparel manufacturer and it is a huge market for us. We want to grab this market. China is gradually shifting from MMF production and we want to take this place,” he added.
However, Bangladeshi manufacturers reiterated that Indian MMF was costlier, and that they (Indian MMF producers) did not have enough capacity to meet the country’s demand.
“I visited India a few months ago and found that the quality of their woven fabrics is not good enough, although their polyester knitted fabric (PKF) quality is quite good,” said Md Khosru Chowdhury, managing director of Nipa Group.
Moreover, they had only around 10% capacity to meet the PKF demand, he also said.
However, the three Indian suppliers denied the quality issue and said that if Bangladeshi manufacturers increased MMF imports from them, then the prices would definitely be lowered.
According to the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA), said that Bangladesh is now exporting around 25% of non-cotton goods where the global demand for more than 70%.
Currently, Bangladesh has experienced around 15-20% growth rate in MMF fiber goods export due to the high demand in the global market and that is why India is eying to capture the market.
Talking to Dhaka Tribune, Mohiuddin Rubel, director of the BGMEA, said that Bangladesh approximately spent around $5-6 billion in FY22 for importing non cotton raw material.
Regarding the price comparison between India and China, he said that there cannot be any straight answer as price depended on quality of the product, transport cost and lead time.
Bangladesh imports MMF from both India and China. However, both countries have their own competitive advantages for respective categories, he added.
According to the National Investment Promotion and Facilitation Agency of India, India is the global second largest MMF manufacturing country and stands 6th with 16% of the share in the global MMF textile market.
India currently produces almost all types of synthetic fibers like polyester, viscose, nylon or acrylic.
Manufacturers of the country said that if India was able to reduce prices and solve land port-related issues, the lead time will be cut to 15 days, while currently it needs a minimum of 25 days to import from China.
Meanwhile, a team of Bangladesh’s apparel leaders visited India recently as per the invitation from Indian MMF fabric manufacturers.
