Modern Syntex, a concern of TK Group, now supplies about 21% of Bangladesh’s polyester demand and earns roughly $30 million a year from direct exports, company officials said, as the country’s biggest polyester producer builds out an integrated production chain that once relied heavily on imported raw material.
The company entered the polyester business in 2002 through Modern Poly Industries Ltd with a capacity of just 10 tonnes a day. Output rose to 100 tonnes a day by 2017 and now stands at 460 tonnes, with annual production of around 161,000 tonnes, said Shafal Barua, senior general manager for engineering at the company.
Modern Syntex initially imported polyester chips and converted them into filament yarn, a process that consumed large amounts of energy and pushed up costs. It later moved upstream, producing polyester chips domestically through continuous polymerisation using German technology from Oerlikon, becoming what the company describes as Bangladesh’s first import-substituting continuous polymerisation plant, Barua said.
Planning for the integrated facility began around 2017. The company selected the National Special Economic Zone in Mirsharai, near Chattogram, citing land availability, infrastructure and investment incentives, and built the plant with roughly $131 million, or about 17 billion taka. It produces polyethylene terephthalate chips, fully drawn yarn, draw textured yarn and polyester staple fibre, and supplies domestic buyers including Square Textiles, DBL Group, Epyllion Group, Envoy Group and Fakir Fashion. Earlier this year, the company leased a further 3.75 acres in the zone to expand high-value yarn output, a move expected to create about 120 specialised jobs.
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The facility turns out 78,750 tonnes of polyester staple fibre, 43,750 tonnes of polyester filament yarn and 38,500 tonnes of PET chips annually. Bangladesh’s overall polyester yarn demand is estimated at 500,000-550,000 tonnes a year and staple fibre demand at around 140,000-160,000 tonnes, with a large share still met through imports from China, India, Indonesia and South Korea. Officials estimate the plant saves the country about $60 million a year in foreign exchange through import substitution, with industry-wide polyester demand growing roughly 10% annually.
Barua said building a stronger domestic polyester base was essential if Bangladesh wants to diversify an apparel export basket still dominated by cotton, since global demand for polyester and other man-made fibres continues to climb. Outside natural fibres, he said, polyester remains one of the cheapest and most accessible alternatives, and shifting fashion trends are pushing demand for synthetic materials higher.
Local manufacturers face stiff competition from Chinese and Indonesian rivals with decades of experience, more advanced technology and larger scale, Barua said, adding that policy support remains uneven. Recycled polyester producers currently receive export incentives of about 6%, he said, while virgin polyester makers get considerably less. He also cited uninterrupted electricity and gas supply as critical, since continuous polymerisation is highly sensitive to disruptions that can take time and cost money to reverse.
Modern Syntex has avoided major power or gas shortages at its Mirsharai site, but industrial water supply remains a concern, with the plant partly dependent on groundwater and deep tube wells. Barua said planned treatment facilities from the Bangladesh Economic Zones Authority could help, though longer-term planning is still needed. The company employs about 1,100 workers, mostly from the Chattogram region, and has relied on foreign experts to train local staff amid a shortage of specialised technical manpower.
Rakibul Alam Chowdhury, a former vice president of the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association, said a stronger domestic polyester supply chain would help the country move toward higher-value apparel exports, reduce lead times and import costs, and ease pressure on foreign exchange reserves.