The 15th International Plastic Fair (IPF) 2023 is going to begin on February 22 at the International Convention City, Bashundhara (ICCB) in Dhaka.
The 4-day expo will continue till February 25.
Bangladesh Plastic Goods Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BPGMEA) and Yorkers Trade and Marketing Co., Ltd., will jointly organise the IPF-2023 to showcase the plastic products and technologies of the local and international producers.
BPGMEA president Shamim Ahmed announced this at a press conference at the organisation's headquarters in the city on Tuesday while other leaders of the organisation were present on the occasion.
Plastic goods manufacturers and technology producers from 21 countries including Bangladesh, China, India, Taiwan, Vietnam, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Indonesia, South Korea, Belgium, Canada, United States, France, Hong Kong, Italy, Japan, Malaysia, Austria, Singapore, Turkia, and United Arab Emirates (UAE) will join the expo.
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Commerce Minister Tipu Munshi is expected to inaugurate the expo while Industries Minister Nurul Majid Mahmud Humayun is scheduled to be present at the concluding session of the fair.
Addressing the press conference the BPGMEA president said that the organisaion has been organising the IPF for long which has now become one of the biggest trade events in South-East Asia.
"The event plays a pivotal role in attracting investment in the plastic sector, expanding the plastic goods' market and promoting the business in the local market and also exporting to the global market,"he added.
"We hope the plastic sector will make a significant contribution to the country's GDP through its performance," he said.
The BPGMEA leaders mentioned that the last IPF was held in 2019. But no fair was held in 2020 due to Covid-19 situation, though it was scheduled to take place on February 12-15 in 2020.
The participants in the expo are joining the fair in different categories including plastic household items, crockeries, packaging materials, plastic mould, toys items, pharmaceuticals items, plastic furniture, melamine items, garments accessories items, PP woven bag, automobile, electric and electronic items.
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The global market size of plastic goods is $570 billion where Bangladesh's share is 0.1 percent while the local manufacturers have set a target to increase it to 3 percent.
They said the government has been providing a 10 percent cash incentive to the plastic sector to promote the export.
Currently, about 5030 firms are involved in the plastic sector which now produce and market goods worth Tk 40,000 crore annually.
Source: United News of Bangladesh