A sluggish real estate sector has affected the growth of glass processing industry, market players said. Float-glass manufacturers, who saw a jump in domestic demand in 2009 and 2010, have been facing a sort of stagnation since early this year.
“No gas and electricity in new buildings has put a brake on our growth,” said Mizanur Rahman, marketing manager of PHP Float Glass Industries.
Now the company plans to go for making value added products, such as tempered, low- emission and solar control glass, to increase the volume of their revenue, Rahman said.
Nasir Glass Industries, a market leader, is in a better position due to its variety of products.
“Our business is still growing at a double digit rate, but if gas and electricity were available, the growth could be 25 percent this year,” said Abu Sayed, general manager of Nasir Glass.
Nasir Glass has a capacity to produce 250 tonnes per day and PHP 120 tonnes. Both of the manufacturers are now running under-capacity.
The use of float glass in buildings is relatively new in Bangladesh. Before Nasir and PHP entered the market — in 2005 and 2006 respectively — the product was imported in a small scale.
Glass-sheet factories — Usmania Glass (state-owned) and MEB Glass — made cheaper glass used in more affordable structures long before Nasir and PHP came to the market.
The glass market is around Tk 800 crore a year, market players said.
Silica and gas, the primary needs of the float glass makers, are available in Bangladesh, while the secondary raw materials such as dolomite, feldspar and limestone are imported from neighbouring Bhutan, Nepal and India.
A surge in construction, which was almost stalled during the army-backed caretaker government in 2007-08, was behind the rise in local demand for float glass in 2009 and 2010.
Now hundreds of newly-made flats remain unsold due to the absence of gas and electricity connection, which has affected not only the glass industry but also ceramics, tiles, steel and sanitary ware.
“We did not grow this year compared to the growth in 2010,” said Khoshed Alam, managing director of MAB Glass that manufactures sheet glass.
MAB’s per day capacity remains stagnant at 30 tonnes, said Alam.
Earlier, in 2010 Nasir and PHP reduced their exports to meet the growing demand in the domestic market.
-With The Daily Star input
