& çâÌæÚUæð´ ·¤è ¥ôÚU Îð¹Ùæ ÁæÚUè ÚU¹ð´ ¥ÍæüÌ ¥ÂÙð ÜÿØ ÂÚU ŠØæÙ ÚU¹ð´Ð ãæÚU Ù ×æÙð´, €UØô´ç·¤ ·¤æ× ·¤ÚUÙð âð ¥æÂ·¤ô ©gðàØ ·¤è Âýæç# ãôÌè ãñ ¥õÚU ÁèßÙ ·¤æ ¹æÜèÂÙ ÎêÚU ãôÌæ ãñÐ ÖÜð ãè ÁèßÙ ×ð´ ç·¤ÌÙè Öè ·¤çÆÙæ§ü €UØô´ Ù ¥æ°, çÁ™ææâæ ¥õÚU ©ˆâæã ÕÙæ° ÚU¹ð´Ð ŠØæÙ ÚU¹ð´, ÜÿØ ã×ðàææ ¥æÂ·Ô¤ Âæâ ãôÌð ãñ´ çÁ‹ãð´ ÂæÙð ·Ô¤ çÜ° ÂýØæâ ¥æÂ ·¤Öè Öè àæéM¤ ·¤ÚU â·¤Ìð ãñ´Ð

Ceramics exporters see a silver lining

Sajjadur Rahman
European Commission's decision to impose a 60-80 percent anti-dumping duty on ceramic imports from China from November can be a boon for Bangladeshi exporters badly hit by the global economic crisis.
“We are expecting a better time in 2013," said Rizvi-ul Kabir, chief operating officer of Shinepukur Ceramics Ltd, a leading exporter.
Anti-dumping duty is a penalty imposed on suspiciously low-priced imports to increase their price in the importing country and wipe off unfair competition.
Earlier in March, the EC imposed up to 73 percent anti-dumping duties on Chinese ceramic tiles.
But from November similar duties will be imposed on porcelain and bone-china products, for which Bangladesh is a quality maker.
“China is our main contender in the European export market. So an import duty of a minimum of 60 percent will definitely give us an edge,” said Iftakher Uddin Farhad, chairman and managing director of Farr Ceramics, an export-oriented porcelain maker.
Bangladesh's ceramics export, which has been growing at 15 percent on average since
2007-08, witnessed negative growth last fiscal year due to the economic crisis in the biggest export destination, Europe.
Ceramic exports brought in only $33.75 mil-
lion in fiscal 2011-12, down by more than 10 percent from the previous year, according to Export Promotion Bureau.
READ MORE ON B3 FROOM PAGE Bl Bangladeshi ceramic exports mainly comprise of porcelain products — and that category has experienced a slowdown of late.
"As we make porcelain goods, our exports have gone down. We hope to see a jump in our exports next year for the EC's antidumping duty on Chinese porcelain," said Farhad.
He blamed the downtrend in Bangla-desh’s porcelain exports on the increasing competition, particularly from China that has more than 10,000 porcelain factories.
Bone china products, in comparison, are holding up well — but only Shinepukur manufactures them.
sajj ad@theda Ilystar. net