From imported shelves to local muscle: How Bangladeshi brands are gaining ground

Illustration: TBS

For years, Bangladesh's consumer market ran on a simple trade-off: imported products stood for quality, while local ones competed on price and availability.

That equation is changing.

From soap and shampoo to tissue, spices, edible oil, flour, dairy, beverages and household goods, Bangladeshi manufacturers are increasingly matching multinational brands on quality, packaging, innovation and trust. Local alternatives now occupy different price points across cities, towns and rural markets.

Bangladesh's core FMCG market, including consumer care and hygiene, is estimated at around $4 billion and growing 7%-8% a year. A broader market-research estimate puts the market at Tk11.35 lakh crore in FY2025, up from Tk9.35 lakh crore in FY2022, with food and beverages accounting for more than half.

Over two decades, companies including Meghna Group, Abul Khair, Square, ACI, PRAN-RFL, Kohinoor Chemical, Remark HB and Bashundhara have moved from basic commodities into more sophisticated consumer products. The contest is no longer simply "local versus foreign", but between brands competing on quality, price, availability, packaging, innovation and trust.

The shift is particularly visible in toiletries and personal care. Euromonitor's 2025 data shows Unilever Bangladesh holding 42% of retail sales value in mass beauty and personal care, compared with Marico's 10%, Square Toiletries' 4% and Kohinoor Chemical's 3%. In bath and shower products, Unilever held 40%, against 11% for Kohinoor and 10% for Square Toiletries. In skin care, Unilever remained the largest player with 52%, down from 57% in 2024.

Md Quamrul Hassan, executive director and COO of ACI Consumer Brands, said local brands are increasingly outperforming MNCs in several categories by leveraging agility, localised value propositions, accessible pricing and faster adaptation to consumer needs.

The trend is also reflected in brand rankings. In the 2025 Best Brand Awards, 10 of the Overall Top 15 brands were local, up from eight in 2024.

Consumers, in short, want trusted quality but remain highly price-conscious.

Food, beverages and dairy move up the value chain

Processed food is among the strongest examples of local manufacturers moving from commodities to branded, higher-value products. The packaged-food market is estimated at around $4.8 billion and projected to reach $5.8 billion by 2030, according to figures cited by the Centre for Policy Dialogue.

PRAN, Square, ACI, Meghna Group, Akij, Olympic, Bashundhara and Abul Khair have expanded into biscuits, snacks, beverages, spices, noodles, sauces and frozen foods, while targeting export markets.

Dairy is another strong example. A 2023 sector study estimated that Milk Vita, Aarong Dairy and PRAN together account for around 80% of the pasteurised milk market. Aarong Dairy, operated by BRAC, works with more than 35,000 registered farmers, collects milk through around 180 chilling and collection points, and processes roughly 150,000 litres a day.

Milk powder remains more heavily contested by imported and multinational brands such as Dano and Nido, alongside local names. Still, domestic firms are creating more value from local agriculture and making branded food more accessible.

S.M. Muzibur Rahman, senior general manager of Meghna Group of Industries, said the company designs products around local tastes and purchasing power, backed by its supply chain.

"We meet local people's taste and purchasing power and strong presence of the supply chain to replace shop shelves with our products," he said. "Global brands are not cost effective, so we gain ground."

In beverages, Fresh, PRAN and Mum have built extensive bottled-water distribution networks, while PRAN has a strong position in juice and fruit drinks. Carbonated soft drinks are more evenly contested, with Coca-Cola and PepsiCo competing with local producers such as Akij and PRAN.

Packaged spices and confectionery gain ground

Spices demonstrate the shift from loose commodities to branded products. Radhuni, PRAN, ACI Pure, Fresh and BD Food have helped move consumers towards packaged turmeric, chilli, cumin, coriander and blended spices.

Compared with loose products, packaged spices offer convenience, hygiene, consistency, predictable weight and traceability. The shift has also encouraged domestic investment in agricultural sourcing, processing, packaging and distribution.

Confectionery has similarly become a competitive domestic segment. PRAN, Olympic, Abul Khair, Danish and Matador produce candies, toffees, chocolates and chewing gum alongside multinationals such as Perfetti Van Melle. Local firms compete through affordable pricing, variety, local production and nationwide availability, with small pack sizes extending branded products to mass-market consumers.

"Local manufacturers are increasingly competing through product innovation, quality and affordable pricing," Md Quamrul Hassan said.

The growth is also generating demand for local raw materials, packaging and manufacturing services.

Tissue becomes a local battleground

Tissue has evolved from an import-dependent niche into a largely locally made product. Euromonitor puts the retail tissue market at Tk2,175.1 crore in 2025, with value sales rising 3% year-on-year.

Bashundhara Paper Mills, Meghna Group's Fresh and Kallol Group's Fay together accounted for 85% of retail value sales. Bashundhara remained the largest player, although its share fell from 72% in 2020 to 62% in 2025, while Fresh doubled its share from 10% to 20%.

Md Mustafizur Rahman, senior DMD of Bashundhara Paper Mills and Consumer Products, said the industry expanded substantially, particularly during the pandemic, when hygiene awareness increased tissue consumption.

"We give alternative qualityful products to consumers at cheap rates. So consumers accept us and the market is growing," he said.

But affordability remains a challenge. "As price escalated for products, the demand for tissue products declined," he said.

Local manufacturing moves beyond FMCG

The localisation trend extends beyond food and personal care. Walton, Vision, Singer, Jamuna and Minister have built significant domestic manufacturing capacity for refrigerators, televisions, air conditioners and other household appliances.

Rising local production and competition have made products once considered expensive imports increasingly accessible to middle- and lower-income households.

From local shelves to global markets

Local manufacturing is also creating an export industry. PRAN-RFL sells beverages, biscuits, confectionery, spices, snacks, dairy and processed foods in 148 countries, according to the company, and employs more than 168,000 people. Its model connects agricultural sourcing with large-scale processing, branding and international distribution.

Chowdhury Kamruzzaman Kamal, director of marketing at PRAN-RFL Group, said the company's biggest advantages are Bangladesh's agricultural base and labour force.

"Our main advantage is agriculture. We have a lot of seasonal fruits and vegetables for processing food. There is huge potential for halal food. So the opportunity is huge," he said.

Square Food & Beverage began exporting in 2002 and now sells in 30 countries across Australia, Europe, North America, Africa and Asia. ACI Foods exports its Pure and Fun brands to the Middle East, North America, Europe, Australia and Asia-Pacific. Meghna Group says it exports to 52 countries, although the figure covers its broader businesses rather than FMCG alone.

Quality, pricing and distribution

The biggest change may be inside factories. Local manufacturers have invested in modern production lines, laboratory testing, packaging technology, food-processing facilities and quality-control systems.

ACI Foods, for example, says it follows international quality-management standards and operates a modern food-processing facility, with products spanning spices, cereals, edible oil, snacks and confectionery.

The ability to meet overseas standards also helps narrow the perceived gap between imported and locally manufactured products at home.

Yet quality means little if products cannot reach consumers. Meghna Group says it operates more than 57 industrial units and works with 6,650 distributors and 20,000 suppliers across its businesses; its FMCG brands include Fresh, No.1, Actifit and Pure. PRAN-RFL has similarly built an extensive distribution network covering traditional and modern retail.

That reach matters because Bangladesh remains overwhelmingly a traditional-retail market. Around 97% of retail trade is estimated to flow through traditional outlets, from neighbourhood groceries to rural "mudir dokans".

Modern retail is small but expanding. Supermarket outlets more than doubled to over 1,500 in 2025 from more than 750 a year earlier, while annual modern-retail turnover rose 33% to an estimated $800 million from $600 million, according to USDA data reported by The Daily Star.

The removal of the additional VAT burden on supermarket shoppers in February 2025 also improved price competitiveness, with major chains reporting around a 20% rise in footfall afterwards, according to TBS.

Still, modern retail represents only a small share of the overall market. For local FMCG manufacturers, the central challenge remains the same across cities, towns and villages: delivering consistent quality at prices consumers can afford.

Bangladesh's local brands have increasingly demonstrated that they can compete with imported products on quality. The next test is maintaining that edge while managing rising input costs and expanding their reach at home and abroad.