Booming business in Tiles Industry, local product on high demand

Booming business in Tiles Industry, local product on high demand

Farah Zerin Binti: Thousands of house are built in the country due to urbanization. Tiles is one of the identic elements to build a house. The demand on tiles is increasing day by day. It’s used in both modernized and non-modernize buildings. For which, ceramic companies are in a very good state in business. Export in ceramic tiles also increasing alongside import of tiles.

“Use of tiles is no more fashion now. It’s become an essential increasingly being used in urban and semi urban areas.” Said Fariduddin Akhter, general manager of DBL ceramics. He said the demand for ceramic tiles both for interior and exterior is rising rapidly in Bangladesh.

Local products are on high demand on the market. Currently, there are 17 local ceramics companies. Shamsur Rahman Sumon, store manager of Kanika Marble &Granite Company, said they get demand on Akij ceramics, Star ceramics, RAK ceramics, Great-wall ceramicsetc. local companies. According to him, mostly sold product is 60-75 tk square feet. Most buyers are real estate companies that focuses on the local product which tends to be more affordable than foreign ceramics and the quality is also good. He also added that RAK ceramics was the no.1 company in 2012 and ahead in exporting ceramics from Bangladesh.

Most ceramic tiles are exported to India, Australia, UAE etc. According to sources, in the 2016-2017 fiscal year, the total export rate in ceramic products is 2580952.45 US$. The export destination is Europe, USA, Canada, Japan, South Korea, China, India, Singapore, Middle-East etc.

Industry people said tiles production in Bangladesh first started in 1982, a state owned enterprise which was set up by Bangladesh Chemical Industry Corporation. The second one was Madhumati tiles in 1988.

The situation started changing rapidly after 2000 when tiles became too cheap to easily replace mosaics.

AR Humayun Khan, CEO of Empire Estate builders, said “The construction industry including residence, malls and other corporate buildings, is growing so fast that the tiles business is booming up.” According to him tiles production has increased from 300 square meters to over 100,000 square meters per day from last 1984 to 2016. “We use 70,000-80,000 square feet tiles annually and most of them are local, especially from RAK ceramics, Fu-wang ceramics. There are a lot more variety on local products than before. But we also get demand for foreign products from flat/house owners, in that case they have to pay extra regarding price.” Said Mr. Khan, who has 13 years of experience in the real estate sector.

Foreign products are also on demand said Mr. Salim Reza, owner of Blue Star ceramics, a showroom of tiles and sanitary. According to him Chinese products are demanded among all foreign products. The price range is 112-170 tk square feet which is almost twice as local products and the quality is better. He said, “The buyers of foreign products are mainly elite class people and those who would pay extra to builders for the product.”

Study says, Ceramic and tiles industry plays a big role in the economy of Bangladesh for certain period of time. Sales of locally produced tiles did not go down even in the bad times in country’s construction industry. Bangladesh has a great future ahead in exporting ceramic tiles.