Bangladeshi Textile Entrepreneurs To Invest US$ 2.5 Billion By 2023

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Bangladeshi Textile Entrepreneurs To Invest US$ 2.5 Billion By 2023

Bangladesh’s textile industry is set to invest US$ 2.5 billion in the sector by 2023 to boost production capacity to meet growing demand. The investments will mostly go into adopting new technologies, expanding capacities and creating opportunities for about 100,000 people in 25 units, Bangladesh Textile Mills Association (BTMA) President Mohammad Ali Khokon said. Plans are afoot to set up 13 new textile units, while 12 units are planning capacity expansions, to meet the growing demand, especially of manmade fibres. There will be 2.5 million newly-installed spindles, adding to the existing capacity of about 13 million spindles. Khokon said the new units had already opened letters of credit to import capital machinery, and all are scheduled to come into production by 2023. To utilise the new capacity, about 2.5 million additional bales of raw cotton will need to be imported each year. Bangladesh imported 8.2 million bales in 2020-21, he added. The latest investments are being made by companies including Modern Syntex, Abul Kalam Spinning Mills, Universal Denim, Karim Tex, Nice Spinning, Mondol Spinning, Chandrsee Spinning, NR Spinning, Wazeed Spinning Mills, Raw Tech, Beximco Group, RBD Fibers and Sufiya Cotton Textiles. Karim Group is investing Tk 1,350 crore to produce 112 tonnes of yarn in a day – 80 tonnes of natural yarn and 32 tonnes of synthetic yarn – to meet the growing demand of yarn, said Md Wahid Mia, managing director of Karim Tex Ltd. The new unit will be the largest spinning mill with the latest technology, which is scheduled for commercial production by 2023, he added. Wahid said it will create employment for around 1,000 people. Meanwhile, Chandsree Spinning Ltd, a new venture in the textile sector, is investing Tk 100 crore to produce about 28.80 lakh tonnes of yarn annually, said its managing director ABM Jafar Ahmed. Asia Composite has plans to install another 48,000 spindles, along with the current 70,000 spindles. Envoy Group is investing Tk 125 crore to set up a synthetic blended yarn production capacity. The new unit will produce 12 tonnes of yarn per day. Kutubuddin Ahmed, chairman of the group, said, "We are enhancing spinning capacity to produce cotton and synthetic blended 'expanded yarn' as a substitute for imported yarn." According to the BTMA, more than 433 spinning mills were in operation in Bangladesh in 2020, which had a combined production capacity of 3,270 million kilogrammes of yarn per year.