Rafiq Zaman
bdnews24.com correspondent
Dhaka, Feb 9 (bdnews24.com) - A Chinese company is willing to come to Bangladesh with the biggest ever investment in the fabric sub sector to produce fabrics from jute in the wake of cotton price hike in the international market.
The company plans to set up a plant in Ishwardi Export Processing Zone (EPZ), said the Bangladesh Export Processing Zones Authority (BEPZA).
"We have received a US$ 400 million investment proposal -- the largest in any EPZ -- from the Jiangu Red Bud company for a plant at Ishwardi EPZ," BEPZA executive Chairman Brig Gen. Ashraf Abdhullah Yussuf told bdnews24.com Thursday.
"The company, according to the proposal, will gradually raise its investment to one billion dollars."
The BEPZA sources said the project director of Ishwardi EPZ Hafizur Rahman went to China two weeks ago to assess the investment feasibility of Jiangu Red Bud Dying Technology Company.
Representatives of Red Bud company also visited the Ishwardi EPZ and discussed the matter with the BEPZA executive chairman early last month.
Ashraf said the Chinese company would produce 50 types of fabrics including denim from jute produced in Pabna and Jessore region.
Few textile industries including India's Arvind, one of the large denim producers in the world, have been using jute yarn to produce denim in view of the cotton price rise over the last few years.
Bangladesh may also emerge as a major denim producer in the world as, being a front ranking jute producing country, it has an edge over others.
In Bangladesh, local and foreign investment in the denim sub-sector surged to the top rung last year, Bangladesh Textile Mills Association (BTMA) sources said.
According to the Export Promotion Bureau (EPB), export of jute yarn grew 42 per cent to Tk 1028 crore in 2004-05 fiscal and 12.5 per cent to Tk 1157 crore in last the fiscal, although the jute yarn export have not increased for long.
As per the World Trade Organisation (WTO) Hong Kong agreement, the developed countries have reduced their subsidy from cotton production which has pushed up the cotton price internationally in the recent years. So textile industries in the world have started considering jute yarn as an alternative to cotton yarn.
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