Achieving a Surprising Growth - Bogra, the northern district
of Bangladesh, raised its annual export earnings to Tk 500 crore last year. But
even five years ago it was just over Tk 100 crore. This success is mainly due
to the export of rice bran oil (edible oil made from rice husk).
In addition to agricultural products, the region's foreign exchange earnings on light engineering and agricultural machinery exports have been one of the main drivers of rapid growth.
At this time the stock of export products of the district has increased from 10 to 16. Exporters say more products are being added to the list. Products exported from Bogra include: irrigation pumps, rice bran oil, jute yarn and bags, sacks, threshing machines, potatoes, pets and various plant saplings.
Among other products, synthetic hair products are exported to the United States, potatoes to Sri Lanka, jute bags to Singapore, saplings to Turkey, pants, vests and soybeans to Nepal and Bhutan.
The driving force of
growth:
Rice bran oil has been on the export list for the last five years, which
was more than Tk 300 crore last year alone.
Rice bran oil is most in demand in India. Exporters say they have not been
able to enter potential markets in Australia and Japan because producers do not
have enough raw materials. In 2018, the export of rice bran oil was Tk 250
crore.
Four companies producing rice bran oil in Bogra: Majumdar Products Limited and Western Agro Products Limited in Sherpur, Tamim Agro Industries in Shahjahanpur and Al-Noor Agro Limited in Kahalu Upazila. The oil produced by these four companies is mainly exported abroad. Last year, Tamim Agro Industries exported rice bran oil worth Tk 143.47 crore.
Naeem Hasan Rupon, director (finance) of the company, said they have been exporting the edible oil for more than 10 years. "In the past, the product was exported to Japan, Australia, China. But in the last few years, there has been a huge demand for this oil in India. The demand in the country is increasing day by day."
He further said that at present there is a huge shortage of raw material (rice husk) for oil production in the country.
"Demand for this specialty has grown significantly as a result of recent corporate scandals," he said.
Meanwhile, an Indian newspaper quoted a business source as saying that India's rice bran oil imports from Bangladesh will double in FY 2021 from 75,000 tonnes in the previous fiscal year. India produces about 1 million tons of rice bran oil every year.
How Majumdar Products
Ltd. comes into production of Rice Bran Oil:
Chitta Majumder, Managing Director of Majumdar Products Limited, set up a
rice mill at Noapara in Jessore in 2008. He started importing rice from India
in 2010.
At that time, he saw that those who have rice mills in different states of India also have rice bran oil mills. The neighboring country has had rice bran oil mills for almost 40 years but they have not been able to capture the market that way. From there he got the idea of establishing such a mill in the country. Majumder took the opportunity to set up a rice bran oil mill in Bogra in 2012.
"Since 2015, we have been mainly exporting crude rice bran oil to India," he told The Business Standard.
Within a few years, market leadership passed into the hands of Majumdar Mills. Chitta Majumder said, "Every year since 2018, Majumdar Products Limited has been exporting the most rice bran oil from Bogra."
Its mill produces 150-160 tons of oil daily, all of which is exported to India.
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