Speakers at a seminar organised by the Dhaka Chamber of Commerce and Industry (DCCI) on Saturday called for urgent policy reforms and infrastructure development to reduce Bangladesh's heavy dependence on imported industrial chemicals that underpin the country's key export-oriented sectors.
The seminar, styled "Backward Linkage Development of Chemical-Dependent Key Export-Oriented Industries: Current State & Issues," was held at the DCCI office in Motijheel with its President Taskeen Ahmed in the chair.
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Asif Rabbani, Managing Director of SR Chemical Industries Ltd and SR Group Ltd, presented the keynote paper, describing chemicals as the invisible foundation of Bangladesh's major export sectors, including readymade garments (RMG), pharmaceuticals, leather, construction, agriculture and plastics.
According to the presentation, Bangladesh's chemical industry has a domestic market size of $6-8 billion, growing at 10-15 percent annually. Chemical imports stood at
$ 6.2 billion in FY2025, registering 17.8 percent growth and accounting for roughly 10 percent of the country's total national imports.
The keynote highlighted a stark imbalance, noting that chemical imports are more than 15 times higher than chemical exports.
The presentation identified three sectors most exposed to this dependency.
The RMG industry uses more than 2,500 chemicals in production, with local dyes and auxiliaries representing largely untapped potential.
In pharmaceuticals, which export to over 150 countries, about 90 percent of active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) are imported, costing the sector roughly $ 1.3 billion annually.
The leather industry, valued at around $ 200 million and growing 5-7 percent a year, remains reliant on imported tanning chemicals.
Rabbani pointed to three structural barriers holding the sector back: an inverted tariff structure that taxes raw materials higher than finished products, inconsistent HS code classification causing delays and disputes, and leakage of duty-free chemicals from bonded warehouses into the domestic market, creating unfair competition for local manufacturers.
The keynote also flagged critical infrastructure gaps, including the absence of dedicated dangerous goods (DG) warehouses, ageing chemical clusters in Old Dhaka in need of relocation, unreliable gas and power supply, and insufficient testing laboratories for export compliance.
A modern Chemical Special Economic Zone (SEZ) with shared utilities could cut costs for local manufacturers by 20-30 percent, the presentation noted.
Rabbani proposed a four-point roadmap toward chemical self-sufficiency: policy reform to correct tariffs, harmonise HS codes and stop bonded warehouse leakage; infrastructure development including DG warehouses, a Chemical SEZ, testing labs and utility support; regulatory simplification through single window licensing and a National Chemical Policy; and capability building through API research, green chemistry and university collaboration.
The seminar set a target of achieving 60 percent chemical backward linkage, which speakers said would help save billions in foreign exchange annually, lower input costs and strengthen export competitiveness, create thousands of skilled technical jobs, and build a more resilient industrial ecosystem.
The way forward, according to the presentation, requires coordinated action from government through policy commitment and incentives, the private sector through investment and modernisation, research institutions through innovation and green chemistry, and infrastructure development through SEZs, laboratories and utilities.