Cement companies in Bangladesh have urged the government to develop the infrastructure and increase enabling facilities aiming to give the export of the item to India and other SAARC countries a new height.
An official of MI Cement Factory Ltd the manufacturer of Crown Cement told the FE that "Bangladesh has a target to export cement worth USD 7 million in this fiscal (2010-11), but without developing the infrastructure and solving the problems of non tariff barriers with India, the fulfillment of the target remains a mirage.”
Another cement company source told that "Our government should solve the problems of non tariff barriers like issuance of visa through Akhaura land port to facilitate our export to India.”
An industry observer said that "Consumption of cement, one of the key backward linkages of the construction and real estate sectors is expected to witness phenomenal growth in Bangladesh in the coming months as major infrastructure projects like Padma Bridge, Dhaka Chittagong four lane highway will begin shortly.”
An official of Bangladesh Cement Manufacturing Association, said though cement consumption is growing, local manufacturers have to keep a large portion of their factories idle, as local factories will be able to produce in full swing when those public construction works begin.
Presently there are 30 operational cement companies that can produce around 20 million tonnes of cement a year against a demand for 8.5 million tonnes. Of them, Heidelberg Cement, Lafarge Surma Cement Confidence Cement, Meghna Cement, Niloy Cement, Aramit Cement, Padma Cement and Modern Cement are listed on the stock exchanges.
Bangladesh exported cement worth 0.125 million tonnes till May of 2010. Crown Cement is the top cement exporting company to India from Bangladesh since 2003. According to MI Cement Ltd, the company exported 68,000 tonne Crown Cement fetching USD 5.48 million between the period of July 2009 to June, 2010. The company earned USD 2.267 million through exporting cement in 2008-09 fiscal.
(Sourced from FE)
