Jagaran Chakma

With the year about to come to a close, the cement sector finally experienced some relief from the ongoing pandemic thanks to increased consumption alongside fresh investments.

The outbreak of Covid-19 and the subsequent lockdown put the plastic industry in Bangladesh into serious trouble in the first three months of the crisis.

Steel prices jumped 17 per cent in the last one month as millers hiked the rates in the wake of spiralling scrap prices in the international market, which will make the implementation of public construction projects and home building costlier.

Companies from Japan, Thailand and the United Arab Emirates have teamed up to upgrade the recently shuttered six sugar mills of the Bangladesh Sugar & Food Industries Corporation (BSFIC), ensure profitability and export by-products.

Water sharing and management of trans-boundary rivers will dominate today’s Bangladesh-India summit to be led by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and her Indian counterpart Narendra Modi, said officials.

Akij Venture, a concern of Akij Group, has expressed its intention to invest Tk 3,480 crore to set up 18 manufacturing facilities at the Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Shilpa Nagar (BSMSN) in Chattogram.

Two Chinese companies are set to invest around Tk 244 crore, equivalent to $28.69 million, in Bangladesh for establishing manufacturing units for non-woven personal protective equipment (PPE), steel structural items and ready-mix concrete.

Leather goods and footwear exporters will continue to face serious hardships amid the ongoing pandemic as the declining export orders have led to a capital shortage in the sector, according to industry insiders.

The government’s decision to suspend purchase of new and replacement vehicles under all expenses has been extended for the remaining half of the current fiscal year to reduce unnecessary expenditure in the face of a second wave of the coronavirus pandemic.

The Bangladesh Economic Zones Authority (Beza) is set to invest Tk 4,367 crore on a fresh project aimed at developing a greener Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Shilpa Nagar (BSMSN).

South Korea has agreed to provide $50 million in budget support to Bangladesh to help the country continue its fight against the coronavirus pandemic.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has directed ministries to undertake new projects cautiously to avoid unnecessary public expenditure as the government will have to spend a considerable amount money to procure Covid-19 vaccines to immunise the whole nation, officials said.

Bangladesh’s automobile industry has fallen into deep uncertainty as sales declined by 40 per cent this year due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

IFAD Group is keen to invest Tk 433.5 crore to set up an industrial complex at the Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Shilpa Nagar (BSMSN) as it looks to make a foray into the growing motorbike and automotive component segments.

Apex Footwear has launched its first international outlet, finding its niche in Kathmandu, the capital of the Himalayan Kingdom ofNepal.

The pharmaceutical market of Bangladesh is expected to surpass $6 billion by 2025 with an absolute growth of 114 per cent from its 2019 levels, according to a report from a Dublin-based market insight and analysis firm, Research and Markets.

A decision by the energy ministry to stop providing new gas connections to the industries outside economic zones and industrial parks from April next year has drawn the ire of industrialists.

Bangladesh, a laggard in the production of raw materials for the $3 billion pharmaceuticals industry, has made a four-fold jump in the manufacturing of active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) in the last decade to meet growing demand.

Development spending rose to a four-month high of Tk 10,151 crore in October as the government has accelerated expenditure to revive the economy reeling under the impacts of the coronavirus pandemic.

Samorita Hospital, the lone listed healthcare provider, yesterday reported a sharp drop in profit for the last fiscal year, reflecting the sluggish business in the country’s private healthcare sector as most treatment-seekers opted to stay away from hospitals.