The shipment of plastic products rose 41 per cent year-on-year to $100.17 million in the first six months of the current financial year as orders surged following the post-pandemic recovery and manufacturers made a foray into new export destinations, official figures showed.
Plastic makers were hard-pressed but now expect a comeback
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.
The industry began recovering after the reopening of the economy from June. Yet, it will not post positive growth in 2020 as the demand in both local and global markets remained weak for most of the year.
Overall, the domestic sales of the industry may decline to Tk 22,000 crore this year, said industry operators. Plastic manufacturers faced difficulties at home and abroad this year due to the pandemic as local demand declined along with exports, said KM Iqbal Hossain, vice-president of the Bangladesh Plastic Goods Manufacturers & Exporters Association (BPGMEA).