Investment in artificial fibre still low

Investment in manmade fibres in Bangladesh is low as the country has mainly focused on the trade and production of cotton fibre garments over the past five decades.

The total investment in the relatively new sector stands at around Tk 7,000 crore.

But with the evolution in fashion and climate change, the demand for garments made from manmade fibres has been rising worldwide and China, the largest apparel supplier globally, is dominating in this segment.

Recently, Vietnam has also been staging a strong performance in this segment globally.

Bangladesh's share in the total global trade of manmade fibre-based garments is still hovering at around 5 percent and it is growing gradually through the gain of contracts lost by competitors China, Vietnam and India.

If Bangladesh invests $18 billion, the country will be able to export $46 billion worth of non-cotton garment items by 2032, according to a study on "Beyond Cotton – A Strategic Blueprint for Fibre Diversification in Bangladesh Apparel Industry".

The study was conducted by the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) in March this year.

Of the amount, $4.6 billion needs to be invested in fibre, filament and yarn manufacturing, $9.2 billion in fabrics manufacturing and $4.2 billion in garment manufacturing, the study also said.

This will enable the installation of an additional 4.7 million spindles, 14,000 knitwear machines and 0.5 million sewing machines.

Bangladesh should expedite the process of enhancing its capacity in manufacturing garments from manmade fibres, recommended another study conducted by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) on behalf of the BGMEA in April this year.

This is due to the fact that 60 percent of the $1,121 billion-worth garments to be traded globally in 2030 will be constituted of manmade fibres, be it wholly or by a substantial margin, it said.

Meanwhile, 35 percent will be cotton and cotton-rich garments and only 5 percent others.

In contrast, the value of garment items traded globally in 2022 stood at $953 billion, of which manmade fibre and manmade fibre-rich garments accounted for 50 percent, cotton and cotton-rich fibres 37 percent and others 13 percent, the study said.

The study also found that the total global trade of four garment items, including brassieres, technical textiles, activewear and swimwear, jackets, suits and blazers, stood at $100 billion in 2022.

Around 73 percent of that value came from manmade fibre-based items.

There are six to seven mills dedicatedly producing manmade fibres, said Monsoor Ahmed, additional director of the Bangladesh Textile Mills Association (BTMA), a platform for primary textile millers.

Many have expanded their manmade fibre production capacity along with that of cotton fibres to cater to local garment manufacturers and export small quantities, he said.

Since the investment in this segment is still low, most of the demand is met through imports, mainly from China, he added.

Abul Kalam Mohammad Musa, managing director of Manikganj-based Mumanu Polyester Industry, said he has been producing manmade fibres from discarded polyethylene terephthalate (PET) bottles by setting up a mill in 2018.

The fibre is used in the production of jackets, outerwear, sportswear and activewear, he added.

His production capacity is 120 tonnes per day but he can utilise just half of it for a scarcity of raw materials in local markets and due to a restriction on imports of the required polymer.

Musa buys the plastic bottles from scrap dealers at Tk 59 per kilogramme (kg) and sells the fibre at Tk 115 per kg.

Similarly, Mahbubul Hasan, managing director of Sakhipur-based Maliha Polytex Fibre Industry, said he produces 120 tonnes of manmade fibres a day from PET bottles.

But he fears there could be a shortage of raw materials, which could hamper production at his mill.

He set up his mill with an investment of Tk 200 crore to produce polyester staple fibres in 2017 as the raw materials were readily available locally for a suspension in their exports to China and India for bans imposed by the two countries.

Now, both countries have resumed importing PET bottles, he added.

SM Khaled, managing director of Snowtex Group, a garment exporter that uses a lot of manmade fibres, said local millers can meet less than 5 percent of the demand as production is still low.

Since the local supply of raw materials is low, garment exporters have to depend on imports, which is time consuming, he added.