Energypac opens Tk 380cr industrial park

Energypac Power Generation yesterday inaugurated an industrial park in a bid to export locally manufactured generators, enhance its current manufacturing capacity and assemble eco-friendly electric commercial vehicles. The country’s leading power engineering company invested Tk 380 crore in the park, creating employment for 550 people.Located at Sreepur in Gazipur on 52 bighas of land, the industrial park will also boost the pre-engineering steel building sector.It houses a world-class plant capable of testing loads of up to 1.5 MW and producing 500 generators of a GLAD brand. Enerygypac plans to build a world-class electric distribution board (DB) box that will be capable of testing loads of up to three MW and increase the capacity of the plant to produce 1,000 GLAD generators from the current 500 for export. The park also has an assembling plant for JAC vehicles with a capacity to churn out 1,200 units every year.There will also be a plant in the park for prefabricated steel buildings with a yearly production capacity of 1,800 MT.Enerygypac has plans for manufacturing nuts and bolts, wear testing machines and profile sheets, and marketing those as well, with an aim to contribute to the infrastructural development of the country along with contributions in the power and transport sector. Stocks of Energypac Power Generation increased 6.95 per cent to Tk 43.10 on Thursday.

Source: https://www.thedailystar.net/business/economy/news/energypac-opens-tk-380cr-industrial-park-2090665

China export tops forecasts, import growth best in 10yrs

Chinese exports grew at a forecast-busting rate last month, data showed Friday, while imports surged at their strongest in a decade as the global economy bounces back from the pandemic crisis and domestic consumption recovers. With vaccines being rolled out around the world — particularly in the key US market — and economically painful lockdowns being eased, demand for China’s goods has picked up this year, having fallen off a cliff in 2020.Shipments abroad soared 32.3 per cent on-year in April — smashing the 24.1 per cent expected in a Bloomberg survey — thanks to a sharp rise in demand for electronics and medical masks.At home, with the coronavirus largely brought under control, China’s vast army of consumers are getting back to their daily lives after last year’s travails, sending imports up 43.1 per cent, slightly below forecast but the best rise since early 2011. In April, China’s trade surplus with the US — a key point of contention during their bruising trade war — rose 23 per cent to $28.1b.

Source: https://www.thedailystar.net/business/news/china-export-tops-forecasts-import-growth-best-10yrs-2090633

Explore new export markets, including Africa

Bangladesh needs to pay attention to explore new export destinations, including untapped markets in the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), Latin America and African regions. The Institute of Chartered Accountants of Bangladesh (ICAB) organised the webinar, styled “Diversification of Bangladesh’s Export Basket: Opportunities and Challenges.” The commerce ministry is working with the private sector to diversify Bangladesh’s export basket and exploit unexplored markets such as Africa. Uddin went on to say that the country cannot easily secure free or preferential trade agreements before it leaves the least developed country grouping in 2026.Uddin urged the business community to remain optimistic about Bangladesh’s export potential following graduation in 2026 even though shipments are projected to shrink by $5 to $6 billion.AHM Ahsan, vice chairman of the Export Promotion Bureau, said the African region is a common customs union that could be the gateway to 290 million new customers. If a product enters a member country, it can easily travel to other countries in the continent without facing customs issues. So, Bangladesh should make the necessary efforts to sign preferential trade agreements or free trade agreements with African countries.The six major exportable items — woven garments, knit garments, leather and leather products, jute and jute goods, agricultural products, and frozen foods — accounted for 92 per cent of the country’s total export for fiscal 2019-20. The local IT, pharmaceutical, light engineering, ceramic sectors alongside the oceangoing ship building industry need more attention to bag more foreign currency

Source: https://www.thedailystar.net/business/export/news/explore-new-export-markets-including-africa-experts-2090653