Bangladesh could be the second biggest apparel exporter globally but when it comes to fabrics, the country to a great extent is dependent yet on overseas destinations to fulfil its fabric requirements.
“As we cannot meet the full demand, China and India fill in the gap,” reportedly maintained President of Bangladesh Textile Mills Association (BTMA) Mohammad Ali Khokon speaking to the media, adding, “We need to build another 20 big textile mills which will be able to supply quality fabrics to the local garment exporters.”
As per the BTMA, currently the local textile mills can meet 85 per cent of the demand from the knitwear sector and 35 per cent from the woven sector and if the country is to further meet its requirements 20 big textile mills need to be set up, each at the cost of take Taka 500 crore approximately thereby taking the total investment to around Taka 10,000 crore, a substantial amount to say the least.
As per reports, the local textile millers can supply 4 billion metres of fabrics thereby necessitating Bangladesh to import 6 billion metres of fabrics from China and 3 billion metres from India, respectively.
However, with the target of US $ 50 billion in apparel exports by 2021 looming large, the role of local textile mills in fulfilling the domestic demand is becoming more and more important.
“We want a textile village as the Government has been establishing 100 special economic zones across the country,” reportedly underlined the BTMA President who observed that challenges such as high interest rates charged by banks, scarcity of industrial land, gas supply and setting of effluent treatment plants are some of the major hindrances towards attracting fresh investment to the sector.
Bharat Tex Special Report 2026 
