Nasir Glass explores South Africa market

After exporting float glass to three neighbouring countries, Nasir Glass Industries has recently gone to South Africa, an upper-middle-income country.

The sister concern of industrial conglomerate Nasir Group of Industries has already shipped four containers of float glass to South Africa and it has much more export order in hands.

“We have a contract to export 100 containers, but Covid-19 and containment measures are delaying the shipment,” Nasir Uddin Biswas, chairman and managing director of Nasir Group, told the Business Insider Bangladesh.

To meet the growing export demand, the group has expanded its capacity by setting up a second unit of glass factory, which is bigger than the first one.

Nasir Group entered the float glass business in 2005 with a factory at Sreepur in Gazipur, which can now produce 400 tonnes of glass per day. Rising demand from local consumers has led the group to establish a second glass factory with a capacity of 600 tonnes per day at Mirzapur in Tangail district two years ago.

Combined capacity of two factories can now meet the country’s demand, which is around 30,000 tonnes per month. In terms of monetary value the market size of float glass in Bangladesh would be over Tk 20,000 crore a year, according to industry insiders.

“We are exploring new markets for export,” said Biswas, who has set up many ‘first’ industries in Bangladesh.

Some of his ‘first’ industries in the country are: Melamine, Keds (footwear), float glass, CFL lamps, glass tableware and glass tubing for fluorescent and energy saving lamps.

He also talked about a recent Indian move to impose anti-dumping duty on export of Bangladesh’s float glass to the neighbouring country.

“We have already filled up the form prescribed by Indian authorities. We have sought some more time to submit other documents,” said Biswas.

He used to export an average 5,000 tonnes per month to India, Nepal and Sri Lanka before the Covid-19 struck the world.

But, export to these countries is almost at halt for a year due to the pandemic that disrupted the supply chain, he noted.