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Tag: Bangladesh

  • Petrobangla Halves Net Worth Requirement to $50 Million for Spot LNG Suppliers

    Petrobangla Halves Net Worth Requirement to $50 Million for Spot LNG Suppliers

    Petrobangla has slashed its financial and experience thresholds for spot liquefied natural gas suppliers, halving the required net worth to $50 million to ease severe national fuel shortages.

    The state-run energy company now demands just one completed supply contract with no minimum cargo volume, dropping a previous rule requiring 0.5 million tonnes delivered across two separate years.

    Lower barriers for commodity traders

    Under the revised criteria issued on August 29, Petrobangla eliminated requirements for suppliers to own or charter an LNG vessel, prove experience with floating storage and regasification units, or guarantee lean gas containing at least 91 percent methane. Applicants no longer need to verify an absence of failed cargo deliveries over the past five years or limit their arbitration losses to three awards. For joint ventures, the lead partner must cover 75 percent of the $50 million financial capacity, while partners supply the remaining 25 percent.

    “We are looking for more participants in the spot market,” Petrobangla Director for operations and mines Md Shoyeb said.

    Pressure on industrial output

    For industrial manufacturers and export supply chains across South Asia, reliable gas flow dictates factory uptime and power tariffs. Bangladesh faced severe disruption in August when average gas deliveries dropped to 2,235 million cubic feet per day against official demand of 3,860 million cubic feet per day, the lowest August supply figure in a decade. Terminal outages and global supply bottlenecks forced emergency spot purchases at more than $28 per million British thermal units, up sharply from historical norms of $10 to $12 per MMBtu.

    Lowering entry barriers allows smaller trading houses without dedicated fleets to bid against established multinational commodity merchants. The tradeoff sits squarely in operational risk: by waiving past delivery guarantees and vessel charter proofs, Petrobangla accepts higher exposure to cargo defaults and scheduling failures when spot vessel availability tightens.

    Procurement shift since 2024

    The revised criteria follow a governance overhaul that suspended the Quick Enhancement of Electricity and Energy Supply Act, which previously allowed direct, non-tender contracts. The interim administration shifted spot purchases under the Public Procurement Rules 2025, expanding the active spot tender roster to 30 companies from an earlier pool where purchases were concentrated among five suppliers.

    Applications for the new supplier pool close on September 15.

  • Bangladesh Plans New Effluent Plant to Protect $5 Billion Leather Export Target

    Bangladesh Plans New Effluent Plant to Protect $5 Billion Leather Export Target

    Bangladesh will build a new central effluent treatment plant at the Savar tannery estate to protect its target of reaching $5 billion in leather and footwear exports by 2030.

    The existing facility processes between 14,000 and 18,000 cubic metres of liquid waste a day, well below its designed capacity of 25,000 cubic metres. Volumes surge to 45,000 cubic metres daily during peak slaughter periods such as Eid-ul-Azha, overwhelming the site and blocking factories from securing international environmental certifications.

    Overhauling the Savar Estate

    Commerce and Industry Minister Khandaker Abdul Muktadir said the government will select a private operator through an open tender to construct and run the replacement facility. Larger tanneries will receive financial and technical backing to build individual treatment units, while non-compliant operators will receive assisted exit packages to leave the cluster. Tanneries that stay must secure certification from the Leather Working Group.

    Infrastructure bottlenecks extend beyond liquid waste. Bay Group Managing Director Ziaur Rahman reported spending nearly Tk30 million on solid-waste handling last year alone, citing unresolved gas shortages and unpaved roads across the estate. Bangladesh shipped $1.76 billion worth of leather goods and footwear across 105 markets last year, yet roughly 65 per cent of leather leaves the country as crust leather rather than finished consumer merchandise.

    Cutting Red Tape for Footwear Makers

    Footwear manufacturers are pushing to diversify beyond raw hides. Non-leather shoes now generate 31 per cent of the sector’s export revenue, but Bangladesh controls less than 0.5 per cent of global trade in the category. The Footwear Leathergoods and Accessories Exporters Association estimates that lifting that share to 5 per cent would add $3.5 billion in export value.

    Across Southeast Asia, rival manufacturing hubs have pulled ahead by streamlining factory setup and clearing environmental hurdles. Vietnam requires four compliance documents for footwear exporters, whereas Bangladeshi manufacturers must navigate 23 separate licences and 190 administrative filings, according to trade group data. That administrative drag slows foreign joint ventures and leaves machinery import permits stalled for months.

    Government negotiators are preparing bilateral talks with Japan to widen tariff concessions on finished leather items before Bangladesh loses its least developed country trade preferences.

  • Bangladesh Power Shortages Force Consumer Goods Makers to Cut Factory Output

    Bangladesh Power Shortages Force Consumer Goods Makers to Cut Factory Output

    Bangladeshi consumer goods, food, and apparel manufacturers are cutting factory output and rescheduling shifts as industrial gas pressure drops by two thirds across major production hubs.

    The supply squeeze, triggered by an offshore liquefied natural gas terminal going offline on July 21, has forced plants onto costly diesel generators and raised operating expenses by up to 15 percent.

    Export Delays and Rising Fuel Costs

    Food and snack producers face immediate export disruptions. Bombay Sweets missed 45.47 percent of its export orders in August because of low gas pressure, leaving 113,000 dollars in paid orders undelivered while container freight rates to the Middle East reached 8,500 to 12,000 dollars.

    Diversified conglomerate PRAN-RFL Group has cut capacity on select processing lines in Narsingdi, Habiganj, Gazipur, and Narayanganj. The company is using liquefied petroleum gas to keep priority machinery running while idling others during pressure drops.

    Household goods supplier ACI Consumer Brands reports that running diesel generators for continuous 24-hour operations has increased production costs by 10 to 15 percent. Foreign buyers and domestic retail channels have resisted absorbing the difference, leaving manufacturers to absorb the margin squeeze.

    For regional retail brands sourcing apparel and packaged goods across South Asia, the bottlenecks demonstrate the fragility of grid-dependent production hubs, where sudden utility shortfalls directly jeopardize delivery timetables.

    Solar Investments to Offset Grid Failures

    Garment exporter Newage Group has altered shift patterns around electricity availability while drawing 25 percent of its plant power from rooftop solar installations. Drugmaker Incepta Pharmaceuticals is now juggling four distinct energy sources, grid electricity, natural gas, LPG, and diesel, to keep medicine lines operational.

    PRAN-RFL currently generates 35 to 38 megawatts of captive renewable power toward its 200-megawatt plant demand, with plans to expand solar generation capacity to 100 megawatts before the end of the fiscal year.

  • Alfamart Pushes Quick Commerce and Targets 100 Stores in Bangladesh

    Alfamart Pushes Quick Commerce and Targets 100 Stores in Bangladesh

    Indonesian minimart chain Alfamart is expanding its Alfagift delivery network and preparing a 100-store entry into Bangladesh to counter slowing domestic convenience store expansion.

    The Jakarta-based operator, PT Sumber Alfaria Trijaya, is turning to digital ordering and dedicated fulfillment hubs as traditional store density approaches saturation across its home market.

    Dark stores and digital ordering

    President Director Anggara Hans Prawira confirmed that the Alfagift mobile application and loyalty platform have become central to maintaining transaction volumes. Urban shoppers increasingly order household staples and groceries through the digital channel instead of visiting neighborhood brick-and-mortar checkouts.

    To support faster fulfillment, the company is integrating dark stores into its distribution setup. These dedicated micro-warehouses shorten delivery windows and relieve pressure on standard retail outlets in crowded metropolitan areas where finding viable new retail real estate has become harder.

    South Asian expansion

    Slowing domestic retail growth has also pushed Sumber Alfaria Trijaya to seek greenfield opportunities abroad, led by a planned 100-store rollout in Bangladesh. The move marks an aggressive geographic push outside Southeast Asia as domestic store growth tapers.

    Convenience operators across the Asia-Pacific region are confronting the same ceiling. Rapid physical rollouts that drove earnings for two decades across Indonesia, Thailand, and the Philippines now deliver tighter margins, forcing traditional grocers to fight app-based delivery services on speed while exporting their store models into emerging consumer markets.

    The retailer now faces the rollout of its initial 100 Bangladesh sites while testing how deeply quick commerce can defend its domestic basket sizes against dedicated delivery platforms.

  • Bangladesh Imports from India Hit $10.96 Billion Despite Port Limits

    Bangladesh Imports from India Hit $10.96 Billion Despite Port Limits

    Bangladesh increased its imports from India to $10.96 billion in fiscal 2025-26, defying land border curbs designed to restrict cross-border shipments between the two neighbours.

    The annual import bill rose 13.9 percent from $9.62 billion recorded in the previous fiscal year, according to National Board of Revenue data. Bangladeshi exports to India dipped slightly over the same period, slipping to $1.75 billion from $1.76 billion. The figures leave Dhaka with a bilateral trade deficit exceeding $9.2 billion, with India supplying more than six times what it buys in return.

    Shifting cargo from land to sea

    Bilateral trade friction escalated following political changes in Bangladesh in 2024. Dhaka restricted yarn imports across land borders in March 2025 to shield domestic spinning mills, redirecting all Indian yarn shipments exclusively through Chattogram seaport. New Delhi responded in April 2025 by halting airport transhipment facilities for Bangladeshi garments bound for third countries, later adding land port curbs on Bangladeshi processed food, jute, furniture, and apparel.

    The administrative barriers failed to dent demand for Indian textile inputs. Bangladesh Textile Mills Association president Showkat Aziz Russell said recorded yarn imports from India doubled to approximately 300 billion taka in fiscal 2026, up from 140 billion taka a year earlier. Channeling shipments entirely through seaports brought previously informal or unrecorded overland cargo onto customs registries, inflating formal totals while keeping factory order books supplied.

    Structural imbalance in regional apparel

    Textile mills and garment factories across Dhaka and Chattogram rely heavily on Indian cotton, yarn, and fabric because of shorter freight times and buyer-nominated fabric specifications. While India is Bangladesh’s second-largest overall trading partner after China, Dhaka’s outbound shipments remain heavily concentrated in ready-made garments, which face domestic competition and strict standard compliance inside India.

    Policy analysts and industry bodies note that despite duty-free access granted under the South Asian Free Trade Area framework in 2010, the two countries have yet to build integrated supply chain agreements. Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association president Mahmud Hasan Khan and Knitwear Manufacturers president Mohammad Hatem have urged both governments to resolve transport frictions through high-level talks.

    Trade associations from both nations continue to push for formal negotiations on a Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement to clear land port bottlenecks and establish mutual certification standards.

  • Sammilito Islami Bank Files 10,000 Lawsuits to Recover Bad Debt

    Sammilito Islami Bank Files 10,000 Lawsuits to Recover Bad Debt

    Sammilito Islami Bank PLC has filed nearly 10,000 lawsuits across Bangladesh to recover defaulted loans following the state-backed merger of five troubled Islamic lenders.

    The newly formed entity began operations with a paid-up capital of Tk 35,000 crore, backed by Tk 20,000 crore from state coffers and Tk 15,000 crore from depositors. Legal filings form the primary pillar of the recovery push, supported by alternative dispute resolution mechanisms and a formal exit policy supervised by Bangladesh Bank.

    Forensic Audits and Depositor Access

    Bangladesh Bank confirmed that a comprehensive forensic audit is nearing completion. The investigation targets loan fraud, asset misappropriation, and operational irregularities carried out under the prior ownership and management of the merged institutions. The central bank’s Bank Resolution Department reviewed recovery milestones during a progress assessment this week.

    Individual depositors will gain access to their principal amounts from selected deposit accounts starting September 1. Regulators confirmed that depositors will face no haircut on their accrued profits when accessing those funds.

    The creation of Sammilito Islami Bank combined First Security Islami Bank, EXIM Bank, Social Islami Bank, Global Islami Bank, and Union Bank under the Bank Resolution Ordinance 2025. Consolidating five damaged balance sheets into a single state-owned Shariah lender represents Dhaka’s most aggressive intervention to date in halting systemic liquidity contagion.

    Branch Network and Staff Integration

    Restructuring now extends to physical networks and personnel. Regulators have reconstituted the bank’s board of directors with a focus on independent directors while rationalising roles across roughly 16,000 employees.

    Engineers recently deployed a unified IT interface across all five legacy institutions, enabling retail customers to draw funds from any location. Operational integration is currently underway across 780 branches and 1,500 business units nationwide.

    Bangladesh Bank’s resolution team will maintain regular monitoring sessions to track asset recovery numbers and enforce structural milestones through the final quarter of the year.

  • Bangladesh Closes 20,000 Mobile Accounts in Digital Lending and Crypto Crackdown

    Bangladesh Closes 20,000 Mobile Accounts in Digital Lending and Crypto Crackdown

    Bangladesh financial regulators shut down more than 20,000 mobile financial service accounts last month in an expanding crackdown on predatory lending apps, illegal gambling, and unauthorized cryptocurrency trading.

    The enforcement targets unlicensed operators that use local digital payment rails to harvest consumer data, charge interest rates reaching 800 percent, and move illicit funds across borders.

    Harvesting Data and Escalating Interest

    Fraudulent operators run mobile applications under names such as FinCash, Money, PopKash, CashNow, Drutoloan, Fast Loan, Shathi Loan, and Quickloan. During installation, these apps gain access to contact lists, photographs, and private videos stored on borrowers’ devices. Borrowers who miss payment deadlines or contest inflated rates face harassment and extortion threats to leak their personal media to family and employers.

    Scammers also deploy social media pages to advertise microloans carrying sub-market interest rates as low as 5 percent. Victims pay upfront fees and security deposits amounting to Tk 100,000 before administrators sever all contact. Bangladesh Bank confirmed that none of these digital lending applications hold operational licenses in the country.

    Arief Hossain Khan, executive director and spokesperson for Bangladesh Bank, said the central bank’s Payment Systems Department regularly inspects payment service providers and mobile operators. While operators actively track suspicious transactions, screening every single retail transfer remains a structural operational challenge.

    Unlicensed Crypto and Stricter Gambling Penalties

    Central bank investigators also identified unlicensed virtual asset platforms operating inside Bangladesh. A recent central bank inspection revealed that UAE-based platform Fasset, established in 2019 and licensed by Dubai’s Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority, operates locally without authorization. The platform permits domestic users to buy Tether using local bank accounts and mobile wallets on its peer-to-peer marketplace, allowing capital conversion into Bitcoin and Ethereum.

    To curb digital capital flight, the government enacted the Gambling Prevention Act, replacing the colonial-era Public Gambling Act of 1867. The revised statute criminalizes digital casino betting, fantasy sports, and virtual wagering conducted through mobile applications, servers, and digital wallets. Violators face prison sentences ranging from two to seven years and fines between Tk 2 lakh and Tk 5 crore.

    Across Southeast Asia and South Asia, central banks face an identical problem: rapid adoption of mobile wallets has lowered the barrier for predatory fintech syndicates operating outside formal banking supervision. For licensed digital lenders and consumer brands, the proliferation of rogue apps threatens retail trust in legitimate mobile commerce channels.

    The Bangladesh Financial Intelligence Unit and Dhaka Metropolitan Police are now reviewing transaction records across remaining mobile money accounts, with further provider audits scheduled throughout the quarter.

  • Gas Shortage Shuts 80 Percent of Narsingdi Textile Mills in Bangladesh

    Gas Shortage Shuts 80 Percent of Narsingdi Textile Mills in Bangladesh

    A severe natural gas shortage has shut roughly 80 percent of textile and dyeing mills in Narsingdi, wiping out an estimated Tk 500 crore in daily output.

    The industrial hub supplies about 75 percent of domestic fabric demand in Bangladesh, leaving garment makers without essential materials as international buyers cancel orders.

    Rotting Fabric and Idled Boilers

    Narsingdi houses more than 3,000 production units, including 2,500 sizing, spinning, dyeing and weaving mills. About 400 of these operations rely on uninterrupted natural gas at 10 to 15 pounds per square inch to run steam boilers and drying machines. Gas pressure in key industrial pockets like Madhabdi and Chowala fell to zero for four straight days, leaving chemically treated fabric stranded mid-cycle. Fabric left wet beyond 16 hours rots and turns unusable.

    Local industry groups estimate between 10 million and 15 million yards of fabric have been ruined. At Tithi Textile in Madhabdi, 250,000 yards were damaged after generators and machinery stopped. Facing steep losses and wage deadlines, more than 100 mills closed indefinitely, sending workers home on unpaid leave. Others turned to burning wood in steam boilers at a cost of Tk 12,000 a day, skirting local environmental permits after the price of scrap fabric waste spiked.

    Supply Chain Bottlenecks Spread

    The disruption traces back to July 21, when a technical fault crippled an offshore floating liquefied natural gas terminal at Moheshkhali. National gas output plunged from 2,650 million cubic feet per day to 2,175 mmcfd against total demand of 3,800 mmcfd. State distributor Petrobangla lifted supply to 2,300 mmcfd on August 22, but state utility Titas Gas diverted high-pressure flows of 200 PSI to the Ghorashal-Palash fertiliser plant, starving private textile processors.

    Bangladesh remains the world’s second-largest apparel exporter, yet its supply chain faces recurring energy vulnerabilities that threaten delivery timelines for global fashion brands. While competing manufacturing hubs in Vietnam and India rely on more diversified power grids, Bangladeshi mills remain exposed to single-point infrastructure failures in offshore gas infrastructure, compounding margin pressure from rising domestic debt.

    Titas Gas engineers expect regional gas pressure to show initial signs of recovery next week as repair teams complete work on the Moheshkhali LNG terminal.

  • Bangladesh to import rice from Vietnam and India to replenish reserves

    Bangladesh to import rice from Vietnam and India to replenish reserves

    Bangladesh is finalizing deals with Vietnam and India to import a total of 330,000 tonnes of rice as it races to replenish reserves and cool domestic prices, two officials with direct knowledge of the matter said on Monday.

    Soaring prices of the staple grain for the country’s 165 million people pose a problem for the government, which plans to expand cut-price rice sales to help people hard-hit by high costs.

    The south Asian country will buy 100,000 tonnes of parboiled rice from an Indian public sector firm and 200,000 tonnes of parboiled rice and 30,000 tonnes of white rice from Vietnam, the government officials said.

    The price for the parboiled rice from Vietnam will be $521 a tonne and white rice $494 a tonne, said the officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because the deals have not been made public.

    The price for rice from neighboring India will be $443.50 per tonne via seaports and $428.50 per tonne via railways, the officials said. All the prices included freight, insurance and unloading costs, they said.

    “Preparations are underway to sign the deals soon,” one of the officials said, adding the rice would be delivered within two to three months after the signing.

    The Bangladesh government is also holding talks with Myanmar to import rice, the officials said, putting aside a rift over the Rohingya refugee crisis.

    Bangladesh this week slashed import duty on rice to 15% from 25%, cutting it for the second time since July in a bid to boost private imports.Its private rice import plan, however, faces a setback with only 36,000 tonnes bought since July, after the government allowed private traders to import nearly 1 million tonnes of the staple grain after slashing duty to 25.0% from 62.5%.

    The government will begin selling rice at a cheaper rate for 5 million poor families and expand such sales from September, in an effort to rein in surging domestic prices, which saw yet another uptick after it hiked domestic oil prices early this month.

    Bangladesh, traditionally the world’s third-biggest rice producer with around 35 million tonnes annually, uses almost all its production to feed its people. It still often requires imports to cope with shortages caused by floods or droughts.

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  • UniTeller Grows Remittance Network Across APAC

    UniTeller Grows Remittance Network Across APAC

    The U.S. based cross-border and remittance payments processor is extending its remittance services to more customers in the Asia Pacific under a partnership with Tranglo.

    UniTeller has announced a partnership with Tranglo to further expand its services in 13 Asia Pacific markets, including Bangladesh, India, Indonesia and Nepal.

    The partnership will add more than 58,000 cash pick-up points, more than 1,100 account deposit banks, and nine e-wallet platforms to its existing paying network of 90,000 paying locations in the region, according to an announcement on Thursday.

    UniTeller CEO Alberto Guerra said the partnership is a great step forward in the company’s expansion plan for the Asia Pacific this year.

    Founded in Malaysia in 2008, Tranglo operates a cross-border payment hub that provides smart services for mobile airtime top-ups, as well as foreign remittance and business payments.

    Earlier this year, Ripple acquired a 40-percent stake in Tranglo, to allow the blockchain payments company to meet growing customer demand in APAC, one of the fastest-growing regions for RippleNet. As such, UniTeller’s partnership with Tranglo also gives it access to RippleNet.

  • Foodpanda to drive Covid-19 vaccination awareness campaign across Asia

    Foodpanda to drive Covid-19 vaccination awareness campaign across Asia

    Food and grocery delivery service Foodpanda has launched a Covid-19 vaccination awareness campaign across Asia in the lead-up to WHO’s World Immunisation Week. The campaign, which aims to reach more than 10 million people across Asia, will include a series of content across digital and social media channels, providing information and resources on local vaccination programs.

    It will be rolled out in phases across Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Hong Kong, Cambodia, Japan, Bangladesh, Pakistan, and the Philippines.

    “The region’s battle with Covid-19 is ongoing, and we have to stay vigilant on keeping our ecosystem safe,” said Jakob Angele, CEO of Foodpanda. “Leveraging existing channels with our network of riders, merchants, employees and customers, we can raise greater awareness around fighting misinformation and share information around local vaccination programs so that our entire delivery ecosystem can be informed and mobilized.”

    Besides its social media campaign, Foodpanda will also join hands with local authorities to support vaccination programs in Singapore, Cambodia, and the Philippines.

    “We will continuously explore ways to play a part in the fight against Covid-19.”

  • Bangladesh – DHL Express named Best Workplace in Asia for 2019

    Bangladesh – DHL Express named Best Workplace in Asia for 2019

    DHL Express, the world’s leading international express service provider, has been named the Best Workplace in Asia for 2019 by Great Place to Work (GPTW), the global people analytics and consulting firm are known for its annual Best Workplaces list.

    “We are extremely honored to be recognized as the leading employer and best-practice workplace in Asia Pacific,” said Ken Lee, CEO, DHL Express, Asia Pacific.

    “It is important that our employees are always motivated and engaged because they determine the success of our company. We treat our employees the way we would like them to treat our customers, by fostering a culture of authenticity, responsibility, dignity, performance, and results. This award is a testament to the passion and energy that each one of us brings with us to work every day to make DHL a special place to be.”

    DHL Express received GPTW’s prestigious award for the fourth time since 2016, naming it the Best Workplace in Asia in 2016 and 2017 as well as the runner-up in the same category in 2018. This year’s honor came amid positive recognition of its workplace culture across 15 countries and territories in Asia Pacific.

    DHL Express garnered commendable scores on both the Trust Index and the Culture Audit, which canvassed direct feedback from employees to determine workplace levels of fairness and equity, diversity and talent development.

    “DHL’s success as an organization hinges on the unique background, experiences, and perspectives that each of our employees brings. Our strength in respecting and empowering the individual ensures everyone works together as a tightly-integrated whole to strive for exceptional performance,” said Mateen Thiruselvaam, Senior Vice President, Human Resources, DHL Express, Asia Pacific.

    “Feedback mechanisms like the annual Employee Opinion Survey make sure that everyone is heard, and enable us to assess and fine-tune our culture so that we constantly reach toward and extend beyond our full potential.”

    In 2018, DHL won a total of 50 awards for its workplace culture, bringing the total number of awards won from 2014 to 192.

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  • Bangladesh garment factories urged to embrace sustainable behavor

    Bangladesh garment factories urged to embrace sustainable behavor

    Bangladesh garment factories must continue to invest in making their operations more sustainable if they hope to win business over other major competing sourcing countries such as Vietnam, Cambodia and Indonesia, says data and analytics company GlobalData.

    In line with this, the country is looking to increase its garment exports from US$34 billion in the financial year ending last June to US$50 billion next year.

    In 2018, 67 factories had adopted the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification, which evaluates sustainable sites, water efficiency, energy, indoor environment and innovation. Eight were LEED-platinum certified. But with eco-credentials playing a greater role in how consumers today shop, more factories need to get on board.

    Hannah Abdulla, apparel correspondent at GlobalData, says the owners of Bangladesh garment factories are growing increasingly concerned they are losing business to rival sourcing countries.

    “Where buyers were previously concerned with mass-produced, cheap goods, the focus is now on better quality and sustainably sourced (value-added) items. Green factories have an edge; this is what helps sets them apart from the competition.”

    With Bangladesh looking to increase the investments, big changes need to be made to secure additional business from the higher-paying customer, says Abdulla.

    “While change has happened at several factories, this needs to be scaled up. More factories need to get on board if Bangladesh is going to convince global players it remains a worthy contender in the readymade garment space.

    “For the national industry to be viewed as one that is an environmentally-sustainable apparel sector with an international reputation for good practice, it needs to move beyond a minority of factories implementing sustainable measures.”

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  • Crimson Cup opens fourth cafe in Dhaka, Bangladesh

    Crimson Cup opens fourth cafe in Dhaka, Bangladesh

    US coffee roaster Crimson Cup Coffee & Tea has opened its fourth international coffee shop in Dhaka, Bangladesh.

    The new Rangs Fortune Square venue joins Crimson Cup Coffee Houses in the Banani and Dhanmondi neighborhoods.

    “Dhanmondi is a huge residential area with a multicultural population,” said MD Mohaimin Mostafa, “and our existing shop in Dhanmondi 27 was not sufficient to keep up with demand. Our second outlet in Dhanmondi makes it much easier for customers to reach us.”

    The brand features a brew bar where baristas hand-pour craft coffees discovered during Crimson Cup’s sourcing trips all over the world.

    After opening four coffee houses since 2015, the Crimson Cup Bangladesh team is continuing its plans for expansion. Managers are looking for locations in Sylhet and Chittagong as well as the resort city of Cox Bazar. They are also exploring development opportunities in India, Nepal and Thailand.

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  • DB Schenker goes LIVE in Bangladesh

    DB Schenker goes LIVE in Bangladesh

    Schenker (Asia Pacific) Pte Ltd, subsidiary of DB Schenker, the transport and logistics division of the Deutsche Bahn Group, has expanded its presence in the Indian subcontinent with the launch of a new entity in Bangladesh.

    With effect from 26th June 2019, Schenker Logistics (Bangladesh) Limited is  fully operational as a local entity under the global freight forwarder’s India cluster organization.

    Bangladesh is recognized as one of the fastest growing economies in the world with a consistent nominal GDP growth. It is also the world’s second largest exporter of apparels after China, and plays a pivotal role in strengthening DB Schenker’s position as a leader in the global textile market, especially since Bangladesh has duty-free access for garment exports to certain countries.

    The new Bangladesh organization will be led by Chester Hodgson who has over 20 years of experience in the Freight and Logistics industry in South Asia and is no stranger to Bangladesh. “Our greatest pride is our customers and that our success is measured by how we can use our network to facilitate the progress of your business, the fruition of our vision to strategy implementation to become PRIMUS,” says Mr. Hodgson.

    Ditlev Blicher, CEO Asia Pacific, DB Schenker, described establishing an owned entity as an “important step for the organization that comes after many years of careful planning and preparation, which will greatly enhance DB Schenker’s service portfolio and footprint in the Indian subcontinent.”  The new entity will have two offices, in Dhaka and Chattagram, with over 150 experienced employees across the core product offering (Air Freight, Ocean Freight, Contract Logistics, Land & Cross-Border Transportation, Global Projects and Fairs & Exhibitions), spread across six vertical markets namely Aerospace, Electronics & Solar Semiconductor, Automotive, Retail & Consumer, Healthcare and Industrial & Chemical.

    DB Schenker works closely with locally trained experts and partners in order to deliver the best service to customers on the ground. Through such partnerships, the organization also recognizes its role in creating more job opportunities and upskill trainings for the local talent market, while at the same time strengthening its logistics capabilities in Bangladesh.

    “Bangladesh is one of the priority markets for our Indian subcontinent and will help shape a new growth trajectory in the years to come. We are well prepared to expand aggressively in the country so as to better serve our customers,” said Vishal Sharma, Chief Executive Officer, Cluster India and Indian subcontinent, Schenker India Private Limited.

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