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Rahimafrooz enters Japan market with batteries

Suman Saha
Rahimafrooz has entered the Japanese market, the first for a Bangladeshi company, as part of the battery maker's plan to expand its geographic reach.
"We are very happy to enter the competitive market of Japan through maiden export,” says Munawar Misbah Moin, managing director of Rahimafrooz Giobatt Ltd.
The first consignment, consisting 1,200 pieces of car battery worth $50,000, was sent off on Tuesday.
Shiro Sadoshima, Japanese ambassador, Shubhashish Bose, vice Chairman of Export Promotion Bureau, and Andrew Tilke, CEO of HSBC Bangladesh, were present at the ceremony.
The company plans to export 3,000 pieces of battery worth SI.2 million to Japan this fiscal year, to be retailed via a Japanese agent, Shahriar Zaman, head of marketing and sales at Rahimafrooz Giobatt Ltd, said.
The batteries, which are free of maintenance costs, are already being exported to 45 countries, including Singapore, Kuwait, Qatar, United Arab Emirates, Tanzania, Angola and
Namibia.
“We want to take Bangladeshi brand into global markets,” says Zaman, who overseas the international business of the company.
He says Giobatt has already been recognised as one of the leading brands in Singapore and Dubai.
Rahimafrooz Giobatt Ltd exported 5.08 lakh pieces of car battery worth
around $22 million in fiscal 2011-12, 69.23 percent more than the previous fiscal year, according to Zaman.
Of the total exports, 30 percent come from Saarc countries including India, 25 percent from Middle Eastern countries, while Far East markets make up 22 percent.
The company that made its first export to Sri Lanka in 2009 hopes to reach export volumes worth S89 million by fiscal 2014-15, he added.
Rahimafrooz has doubled its annual automotive battery production capacity to 25 lakh units as part of its global expansion plan, Moin said.
Rahimafrooz is the market leader in industrial batteries, solar power and instant power system (IPS).
Rahimafrooz, founded in 1954 by the late AC Abdur Rahim as a trading company in Dhaka, now operates in four broad segments -- storage power, automotive electronics, energy and retail.
fhe group, with its annual sales of around Tk 1,800 crore, has 13 operating companies, including four joint venture companies and a non-profit social enterprise.
suman.saha@thedailystar.net