'With policy support, Akij Biax Films can save Tk3,000cr in foreign currency annually' | The Business Standard
Skip to main content
  • Latest
  • Economy
    • Banking
    • Stocks
    • Industry
    • Analysis
    • Bazaar
    • RMG
    • Corporates
    • Aviation
  • Videos
    • TBS Today
    • TBS Stories
    • TBS World
    • News of the day
    • TBS Programs
    • Podcast
    • Editor's Pick
  • World+Biz
  • Features
    • Panorama
    • The Big Picture
    • Pursuit
    • Habitat
    • Thoughts
    • Splash
    • Mode
    • Tech
    • Explorer
    • Brands
    • In Focus
    • Book Review
    • Earth
    • Food
    • Luxury
    • Wheels
  • Subscribe
    • Epaper
    • GOVT. Ad
  • More
    • Sports
    • TBS Graduates
    • Bangladesh
    • Supplement
    • Infograph
    • Archive
    • Gallery
    • Long Read
    • Interviews
    • Offbeat
    • Magazine
    • Climate Change
    • Health
    • Cartoons
  • বাংলা
The Business Standard

Friday
July 11, 2025

Sign In
Subscribe
  • Latest
  • Economy
    • Banking
    • Stocks
    • Industry
    • Analysis
    • Bazaar
    • RMG
    • Corporates
    • Aviation
  • Videos
    • TBS Today
    • TBS Stories
    • TBS World
    • News of the day
    • TBS Programs
    • Podcast
    • Editor's Pick
  • World+Biz
  • Features
    • Panorama
    • The Big Picture
    • Pursuit
    • Habitat
    • Thoughts
    • Splash
    • Mode
    • Tech
    • Explorer
    • Brands
    • In Focus
    • Book Review
    • Earth
    • Food
    • Luxury
    • Wheels
  • Subscribe
    • Epaper
    • GOVT. Ad
  • More
    • Sports
    • TBS Graduates
    • Bangladesh
    • Supplement
    • Infograph
    • Archive
    • Gallery
    • Long Read
    • Interviews
    • Offbeat
    • Magazine
    • Climate Change
    • Health
    • Cartoons
  • বাংলা
FRIDAY, JULY 11, 2025
'With policy support, Akij Biax Films can save Tk3,000cr in foreign currency annually'

Interviews

Sharier Khan
12 January, 2023, 09:30 am
Last modified: 12 January, 2023, 02:05 pm

Related News

  • AKIJ Resource unveils advanced feeds to elevate livestock production
  • Akij Group founder Sheikh Akij Uddin's biography unveiled
  • Akij Insaf Group appoints Anup Kumar Saha as executive director
  • A new net zero journey for new Akij breakaway
  • Akij Ceramics opens two showrooms in Narayanganj

'With policy support, Akij Biax Films can save Tk3,000cr in foreign currency annually'

Sharier Khan
12 January, 2023, 09:30 am
Last modified: 12 January, 2023, 02:05 pm
Illustration: TBS
Illustration: TBS

The country's annual market for flexible films – used in packaging and levelling of various products including foodstuff, garments, beverages, medicines, and tobacco – is more than Tk3,000 crore. Akij Group has set up a plant for the first time in the country for packaging films which are used as raw materials by various industries. With a fresh investment of Tk1,000 crore, the new venture, Akij Biax Films Limited, has already started production. SK Bashir Uddin, managing director of Akij Group, recently spoke to Sharier Khan, executive editor of The Business Standard, about the conglomerate's huge investment in flexible films, the market, and the challenges it is faced with.

Akij Biax Films is your new venture…tell us about this new product line?

Flexible films are needed in the packaging of any product such as biscuits, chanachur, powdered milk, garments, and a host of other products. Local packaging companies use the film as raw material. Though the country needs more than Tk3,000 crore worth of films annually, no one except Akij has invested in this industry. The local industry has not developed yet.

The Business Standard Google News Keep updated, follow The Business Standard's Google news channel

We currently manufacture three types of products used in packaging: Biaxially-oriented polypropylene (BOPP), biaxially-oriented polyethylene terephthalate (BOPET), and cast polypropylene (CPP).

Why did Akij invest in this industry?

The use of packaging films started in Bangladesh in 1980. Initially, a fully printed form of film was imported for packaging powdered milk. Near the end of the 80s, the journey of the flexible film industry began here by importing raw materials and printing films. The demand has gone up gradually.

Currently, a market has been created for around 80,000-90,000 tonnes of flexible foil materials. However, a huge amount of foreign currency was being spent as the industry was 100% import-dependent.

We thought of investing in the sector in 2010 to get out of this situation. We studied the suppliers and market requirements of this product. Since it is a plastic product, the environmental issue also needed to be taken care of, which required more investment and a lot of time. We can recycle most of the films in our own plant which used to be considered as wastage earlier.

How did local consumers respond to this Bangladeshi product?

This product received a warm welcome from everyone when it first hit the market. The buyers accepted it, putting aside imported products. Offering quality and affordability, we have set an example of a local product replacing foreign products. However, we had to stumble a bit in sales due to products imported by other companies under the bond facility.

How did bonded products hinder your sales?

Import under the bond facility is 100% duty-free. Factory owners can import it without any kind of tax including VAT, AIT, IT, and customs duty as backward linkage. But we import raw materials paying duty, which puts us in unhealthy competition with others. We are facing headwinds despite producing high-quality products.

Another problem is that we have to count a 5% customs duty on the import of flexible foil raw materials. But traders have to pay a 10% customs duty and 5% regulatory duty to import this product as a packaging material. This small tax gap, which is only 10%, is not acceptable given the huge investment and employment generation that we did in the country. Tax benefits for the development of local industries need to be increased.

How much of the current demand is met by bonded products?

Bonded products account for more than 60% of the total commercial import of BOPP films in the country. Though these products are used in industries, the government does not get any revenue from them. But, we are facing tough competition despite making huge investments, creating employment, and paying taxes.

Did you discuss this matter with the NBR?

I have personally met with the National Board of Revenue's Bond Commissionerate several times. I informed them about the discrepancy but no visible development has happened in this regard so far.

Does Akij have the capacity to meet the demand if the bond facility is discontinued?

Our current production capacity is around 90,000 tonnes, which exceeds the current market demand. We are utilising very little of our capacity. At present, we have managed to capture 20% of the local market. In addition, 40% of our products are exported to 20 different countries including Italy, Poland, France, and India.

Apart from Akij, another company has invested in this sector. Therefore, we are more than capable of meeting the local demand.

How much value does Akij add to foil production by importing raw materials?

Value is added to our films in two stages. The two phases of production together account for 60%-70% of value addition. But more important than value addition is local manufacturers can order products of specific measurements according to their demand. They get raw materials at a specified time without a long delay. Besides, it is possible to save about Tk3,000 crore of foreign currency annually through this industry.

How much revenue is the government losing due to bonded products? Without this facility, how competitive will the prices be?

With a small market share, Akij Biax Films is providing more than Tk100 crore of revenue annually. So, it can be said that the government is losing a huge amount of revenue due to the bond facility.

The price will be competitive even if there is no bonded facility. Local buyers know the global price of this product and they negotiate with us based on that price.

We do not want meagre protections that hurt the consumers or hurt another organisation. We want the global price. We want locally manufactured products to be made easily available to people and at fair prices.

Economy / Top News

Akij Group / Akij Biax Films

Comments

While most comments will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive, moderation decisions are subjective. Published comments are readers’ own views and The Business Standard does not endorse any of the readers’ comments.

Top Stories

  • Bangladesh's delegation, led by Commerce Adviser Sk Bashir Uddin, began high-level negotiations with USTR Ambassador Jamieson Greer at 9pm Bangladesh time on Thursday (10 July). Photo: Collected from the Facebook handle of Golam Mortoza, Press Minister at the Bangladesh Embassy in the US
    No need to worry as US tariff talks ongoing: Fouzul tells biz leaders
  • Commerce Adviser Sk Bashir Uddin began high-level negotiations with USTR Ambassador Jamieson Greer at 9pm Bangladesh time on Thursday (10 July). Photo: CA Press Wing
    35% tariff: Commerce adviser meets US trade representative in Washington
  • Economist Abul Barkat; Photo: Courtesy
    Economist Abul Barkat arrested in graft case

MOST VIEWED

  • Graphics: TBS
    BB raises startup fund limit, drops upper age barrier
  • Workers pack undergarments at the packing section of a garment factory in Ashulia, on the outskirts of Dhaka, Bangladesh, April 19, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Fatima Tuj Johora
    After US tariffs, jobs hang by a thread in Bangladesh's garments sector
  • Photo: Mohammad Minhaj Uddin/TBS
    SSC, equivalent results: Pass rate drops to 68.45%, GPA-5 also declines
  • File photo of containers at Chattogram port/TBS
    US buyers push Bangladeshi exporters to share extra tariff costs
  • Govt vehicle purchase, foreign trip, new building construction banned: Finance ministry
    Govt vehicle purchase, foreign trip, new building construction banned: Finance ministry
  • Students sit for SSC exam at Motijheel Girls' High School on 10 April 2025. Photo: Mehedi Hasan/TBS
    SSC exam results out: Here's how you can check online and via SMS

Related News

  • AKIJ Resource unveils advanced feeds to elevate livestock production
  • Akij Group founder Sheikh Akij Uddin's biography unveiled
  • Akij Insaf Group appoints Anup Kumar Saha as executive director
  • A new net zero journey for new Akij breakaway
  • Akij Ceramics opens two showrooms in Narayanganj

Features

Photo: Collected/BBC

What Hitler’s tariff policy misfire can teach the modern world

10h | The Big Picture
Illustration: TBS

Behind closed doors: Why women in Bangladesh stay in abusive marriages

13h | Panorama
Purbachl’s 144-acre Sal forest is an essential part of the area’s biodiversity. Within it, 128 species of plants and 74 species of animals — many of them endangered — have been identified. Photo: Syed Zakir Hossain/TBS

A forest saved: Inside the restoration of Purbachal's last Sal grove

13h | Panorama
Photo: Rajib Dhar/TBS

11 July 2024: Riot vehicles, water cannons hit the streets as police crack down on protesters

6h | Panorama

More Videos from TBS

'Hypocrisy' will not continue, Iran tells IAEA

'Hypocrisy' will not continue, Iran tells IAEA

9h | TBS World
OpenAI to release web browser in challenge to Google Chrome

OpenAI to release web browser in challenge to Google Chrome

8h | TBS World
Will the title 'Honorable and Excellency' be abolished?

Will the title 'Honorable and Excellency' be abolished?

9h | TBS Today
July Declaration must be constitutionally recognized: Akhtar Hossain

July Declaration must be constitutionally recognized: Akhtar Hossain

9h | TBS Today
EMAIL US
contact@tbsnews.net
FOLLOW US
WHATSAPP
+880 1847416158
The Business Standard
  • About Us
  • Contact us
  • Sitemap
  • Advertisement
  • Privacy Policy
  • Comment Policy
Copyright © 2025
The Business Standard All rights reserved
Technical Partner: RSI Lab

Contact Us

The Business Standard

Main Office -4/A, Eskaton Garden, Dhaka- 1000

Phone: +8801847 416158 - 59

Send Opinion articles to - oped.tbs@gmail.com

For advertisement- sales@tbsnews.net