Dr Khondaker Golam Moazzem on rising popularity of local products

Published in The Daily Observer on Wednesday, 27 August 2014. View more news on the topic.

Local products cast out foreign items

Staff Correspondent

Locally manufactured products are now dominating the native market by casting out the foreign products from consumers’ choice list.

Market share of local brands has risen remarkably in recent times as their products provide demanded features at reasonable price, sources said.

Due to continuous efforts of local brands to maintain a competitive edge in their products, foreign brands are being compelled to rethink about their business plan in Bangladesh. Subsequently, a large number of local people now prefer local brands instead of the imported ones.

Experts opine that a proper industry policy is now very essential to boost local industries and reduce dependency on foreign products. If an effective policy can be formulated and implemented successfully, it will contribute in the country’s economy to a great extent.

Industries Minister Amir Hossain Amu said to The Daily Observer that the government is always ready to provide all types of support to local industries.

The National Industries Policy-2015 will be announced by February of next year, added he. For this the ministry has already formed a three-member sub-committee and it has been directed to submit its recommendations by September of this year.

“After receiving recommendations from the committee, we will scrutinise and discuss with the concerned stakeholders before finalising it,” says Amu.

He further added the upcoming industry policy will help to protect and boost the local industries, by creating huge employment opportunity and contributing to the country’s sustainable development.

In course of time, many local items such as readymade garments, shipbuilding, medicines, electronics, jute and jute goods, plastic, furniture, cement, ICT, agriculture and agro processed foods are not only dominating the local market but also lessening the usage of foreign products.

Additional Research Director of the Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD) Dr Khondaker Golam Moazzem said gradual expansion of local market in the light of increasing demand of necessary industrial goods is leading local industries to become export-oriented ones.

He cited examples of cement, electronic and pharmaceutical industries saying that at first those industries expanded here in local market and later started exporting to many countries.

 

Published in Bangladesh Today on Tuesday, 26 August 2014

Local products dominate market foreign ones lag behind

Economic Repoter

Products manufactured in locally have become more competitiveness, dominating the local market and pushing the foreign products to lag behind in Bangladesh.

According to sources, market share of local brands has risen remarkably in recent times as their products are world-class quality and prices are reasonable.

Due to continuous efforts of local brands to maintain a competitive edge in their products, foreign brands are being compelled to rewind their business from Bangladesh. Side-by-side countrymen including most of the sophisticated and high-end customers now prefer local brands instead of the imported ones.

From that perspective, experts opine that a proper industries policy is now very much essential to boost local industries and reduce dependency of foreign products. If the country is able to do it successfully, it will be able to lift the nation to a higher stage, contributing huge to the economy.

Once upon a time, foreign products used to dominate in Bangladesh for obvious reason as there was no alternative to relying on those products to meet local requirement but now the country is now shifting its position from the overdependence on those foreign goods.

In course of time, many local items such as Readymade Garment (RMG), shipbuilding, pharmaceutical, electronics, jute and jute goods, plastic, furniture, cement, ICT, agriculture and agro- processed foods are not only dominating in Bangladesh now but also surpassing foreign products.

Dr Khondaker Golam Moazzem, Additional Research Director of the Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD), said gradual expansion of local market in the light of increasing demand of necessary industrial goods is leading local industries to become export-oriented ones.

He cited examples of cement, electronic and pharmaceutical industries saying that at first those industries expanded here in local market and later those industries started exporting exportable to many countries.Besides, he said, many industries especially shipbuilding one have developed targeting export market while dependence on foreign goods is on the fall as local industries are gradually becoming competitive. The government’s various policy supports are also helping to this end, he observed. The financial analyst favoured establishment of a network and linkage with potential buyers to reach local industries to the international market and continues efforts to improve quality of products. Instead of investment abroad, said CPD researcher, local entrepreneurs are investing here targeting the ever-changing taste and attitude of the people towards consumer goods and that is actually discouraging the presence of foreign products.

SM Ashraful Alam, Managing Director of Walton Hi-Tech Industries Limited (WHIL), said, “We were confined to the production of refrigerator and television, but now we are concentrating on product diversification targeting refrigerator as our focus is to produce electrical accessories and small home appliances. A venture to this end is underway.”

Quality of Bangladeshi electronic products are now competitive and to some extent better than China’s ones. At the very onset Chinese investment appeared to be threatening for Bangladeshi investors but at present many electronic goods made in Bangladesh are exceeding Chinese products in terms of quality and price, he pointed out. “When we started our business, we used to import basic materials such as chemicals for refrigerators spending huge foreign exchange, but now those products are now being produced in the country, said Walton MD.

“Once upon a time there had been a common perception that ‘big fishes eat up fish fries’ and if I say it more specifically ‘big companies devours small ones”, he said and looked back to 50 years ago when only seven to eight Japanese companies used to dominate, but now many small conglomerates are surpassing many giant companies.

Bangladesh is now on the way to cope with the world technologies, he said and hoped that the country has the potential to be a ‘capital of technology’ in the world if it is emerged in the global market attuning to the world’s ever- changing technologies, said Ashraf, whose company is now exporting electronic products to 17 countries.

Shahedul Islam (Helal), a former president of Bangladesh Plastic Goods Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BPGMEA), said almost all goods need for daily life is now produced in Bangladesh.

That is why people of the country should think twice while purchasing foreign products spending hard-earned foreign currencies, said Helal, also managing director Bengal Pacific Ltd and a former president of Bangladesh Chamber of Industries (BCI).

Tariq-ul-Islam, Executive Director of Ananda Shipyard and Slipways Ltd (ASSL), said the shifting of Bangladesh from foreign goods is a part of globalization and trade liberalization. He laid emphasis on expediting export diversification to give the local industrial base a fillip.

Contacted, Industries Minister Amir Hossain Amu says the government is always ready to provide locals industries with all-out supports and enabling environment to boost.

Mentioning the National Industries Policy-2015 that will be announced by February of next year, the minister says, “The ministry has already formed a three-member subcommittee, and it has been directed to submit its recommendations by September this year”.

“After receiving recommendations from the committee, we will scrutinize and discuss with the concerned stakeholders before finalizing it”, he says.

He also hopes that the upcoming industries policy will help protect and boost the local industries, creating huge employment opportunity and contributing to the country’s sustainable development.

 

Published in The Daily New Nation

Local brands shining over foreign goods

Kazi Zahidul Hasan

Local brands and products having international standards and quality are now getting huge response from the consumers causing a backlash for expensive foreign goods, analysts and entrepreneurs said on Monday. They said, two decades ago, local consumers starved for foreign brands, from soap to cloths, causing a setback for locally manufactured products. But, the situation has changed rapidly as the consumers now favoured local products over foreign goods due to their competitive price and quality.     “Twenty years ago, anything with a foreign name was automatically thought to be better,” said Dr Khondaker Golam Moazzem, Additional Research Director, Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD). “But (now) consumers are showing a preference for lower priced local brands which help outpacing foreign goods.” He said, increasing consumer demand has led to gradual expansion of local industries, which are now producing world standard products capitalizing various incentives from the government. It (government) also takes various measures to protect local industries. “The entrepreneurs of these industries have already made huge investment in their manufacturing units and installed state-of-art technology there to cater the demands of both local and foreign customers,” he added.Giving example of industries like cement, electronic, pharmaceutical, plastic products and consumer goods, he said, there industries have expanded over the years and now they are also started exporting their products to many countries.”Foreign brands are losing their stem in Bangladesh and sales of local brands are soaring. The reasons is an enormous price advantage over international brands and improved quality,” he noted.Golam Moazzem further said, consumers now believe local products are equal and in some cases superior to international brands. A growing patriotism of local consumer also helped flourish local industries.As the local industries are showing their potential both local and international market, the government should formulate a proper industrial policy enacting protecting and supportive provisions in it so that they can grow further and contribute the economy by creating more jobs.Mentioning the success story of local garments industry, he said, Bangladesh is now becomes the second largest apparel exporting countries in the world after China and the industry gained the strength to compete its other competitor capitalizing low manufacturing cost.SM Ashraful Alam, Managing Director of Walton Hi-Tech Industries Limited (WHIL), said, “Earlier we focused on producing refrigerator and television, but now we are concentrating on product diversification considering taste of local and foreign customers.” He claimed, local electronic goods are now competitive that any other foreign brands and their quality to some extent better than products produced in China. “When we started our business, we used to import basic materials such as chemicals for refrigerators spending huge foreign exchange, but now those products are now being produced in the country,” said the Walton MD.He said if we look back to 50 years ago when only seven to eight Japanese companies used to dominate in global electronics market. “But now many small conglomerates are shining over the giant companies offering cheap and quality products,” he added.”Bangladesh is now on the way to cope with the world technologies provided by state-support and dedicated workforce,” said Ashraf, whose company is now exporting electronic products to 17 countries.Shahedul Islam (Helal), a former President of Bangladesh Plastic Goods Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BPGMEA), said almost all goods need for daily life is now produced in Bangladesh.”That is why people of the country should think twice while purchasing foreign products said Helal, also managing director Bengal Pacific Ltd and a former President of Bangladesh Chamber of Industries (BCI).When contacted, Industries Minister Amir Hossain Amu, said the government is always ready to provide all-out support and enabling environment to help flourish local industries.”The National Industry Policy-2015 to be announced by February of next year will be supportive to the local industries. The policy will largely accentuate on protect local industries and their sustainable development,” he added.