Over the past two decades, Bangladesh鈥檚 glass industry has transformed into a vital and promising sector thanks to the country鈥檚 rapid urbanisation, robust economic growth, and increased demand for modern building construction material and consumer goods.
The use of glass has expanded far beyond traditional building windows to include modern architectural glass, fa莽ade, automobiles, furniture and household goods, electronics and home appliance.
In an interview with 抖阴精品, Abduhu Sufi, senior general manager of Akij Bashir Glass, shared the industrial growth, challenges, and potentials of the country鈥檚 glass sector.
He said that the sector heavily relied on import in the past century, but the local glass production is now estimated to be worth around Tk 6500鈥揟k聽7000 crore per year thanks to investments in domestic production facilities and the adoption of modern technologies.
The local manufacturers currently produce around 2,000 tonnes per day, which is fully capable of meeting almost 100 per cent of the domestic demand except some specialised variants.
Moreover, the surplus production has also created a tremendous opportunity to export glass products abroad.
鈥楰ey factors like a booming real estate and construction sector, the increasing use of glass in commercial buildings, hotels, modern architecture, growing demand for furniture, and the expansion of the transport industry impacted the growth of the glass sector,鈥� he added.
He also said that cumulatively, the total investment in Bangladesh鈥檚 glass industry has now surpassed Tk 10,000 crore, including capital across various segments of the glass industry.
Leading industrial groups such as AkijBashir Group, two portions of Nasir Group and PHP have made investments ranging from Tk聽1500 to Tk聽2200 crore each, he added, noting that though the market is oversupplied, some new players are also in the pipeline.聽
Regarding the consumption, he said that the glass consumption in Bangladesh is primarily concentrated in a few high-demand sectors.
Among them the construction and real estate sector is the largest consumer of glass in the country.
Moreover, furniture and interior d茅cor sector also a large consumer which uses processed glass primarily.
The use of automotive glass is also increasing in line with the growth of vehicle imports and local automobile assembly, he added.
In Bangladesh, the demand is growing gradually for the glasses like float glass, tempered glass, laminated glass, doubled glazed glass and architectural coatings 鈥� for residential and commercial needs.
Moreover, digitally printed glass for furniture and home appliances are also locally produced here in Bangladesh based on growing demands.
Along with the above variants, Akij Bashir also produced insulated glass units for improved thermal efficiency and low emissivity glass for energy-efficient buildings, he added.
In the financial year 2023-24, Bangladesh exported glass worth of $7.99 million, according to the Export Promotion Bureau data.
In this regard, Abduhu Sufi said that Bangladesh has the export potentials in the glass sector.
鈥楬owever, we have to address some challenges to utilise the full potentials like high energy and raw material costs, less competitiveness, complex export logistics and customs procedures, inconsistent transportation infrastructure, and the unattractive incentives for glass exports,鈥� he added.
He urged the government to introduce attractive export incentives and trade facilitation policies, reduce duties on importing raw materials and ensure uninterrupted gas supply to address those challenges.
Regarding the performance of AkijBashir in the market, he said that due to its competitive price and quality, the glass of his company achieved a strong market acceptance.
鈥榃e have introduced state-of-the-art, innovative, and ecofriendly glasses which made us a one-stop glass solution company,鈥� he added.
With 71 per cent of its energy sourced from renewables, they also reduced carbon emissions and lessened dependence non-renewable resources.
鈥榃e are heavily committed to establish a circular economy and to be evolved as a 鈥榥et zero company鈥� and thus, have zero impact on climate change,鈥� he added.
About the upcoming fiscal budgets, he urged the government to take some measures for the glass industry to thrive. He suggested reducing duty on all raw material import and to reduce tax on the production machinery.
To reduce the skill gap and academic preparedness, he urged the government to introduce undergraduate courses on glass technology, encourage industry-academia partnership, to fund research initiatives, and to take initiative on upskill workforce.
