Akij Ceramics has entered the tableware business to grab a share of the domestic market and diversify the range of products it exports.

According to the Bangladesh Ceramic Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BCMEA), around Tk 652 crore-worth crockery, cutlery and glassware are sold on an average in the country every year.

However, the sector witnessed a 6 per cent negative growth in financial year 2019-20 as a part of the pandemic's fallouts.

In spite of this, the average annual growth over the past three financial years was 17 per cent.

Akij Ceramics organised a ceremony at InterContinental Dhaka yesterday marking the launch of its tableware where Sheikh Bashir Uddin, managing director of Akij Group, was present.

"Following the success of ceramic tiles and sanitaryware, Akij Group introduced Akij tableware to grab a share of the growing market," said Mohammad Khourshed Alam, director, sales and marketing, Akij Ceramics.

He said they invested over Tk 200 crore to set up the tableware manufacturing plant on over 25 acres of land at Trishal in Mymensigh and created direct employment for around 2,000 people there.

According to him, it has been 12 years since this sector saw such a big investment. Protik Ceramics made the last investment in 2009.

He said European machinery have been set up at the plant to ensure quality and attract foreign buyers.

Alam said the plant has a capacity to manufacture 55,000 pieces of products per day and within one year the capacity would increase to 1.25 lakh pieces.

Akij Group realised that the tableware market has been expanding steadily for the last couple of years with the upgradation in the lifestyles of people and the middle class increasingly growing a liking towards ceramics products, he said.

According to the BCMEA, there are currently 20 companies manufacturing 26.19 crore pieces of tableware per year, enabling direct employment of 19,003 people and having made investments worth Tk 2,175 crore.

The BCMEA sources also said foreign tableware still dominate about 27 per cent of the annual domestic market sales.

The tableware sector earned Tk 491 crore through exports in financial year 2018-19 and Tk 421 crore in 2019-20.

On the other hand, Bangladesh imported tableware worth Tk 174 crore in 2018-19 and Tk 173.35 crore in 2019-20.