Usmania Glass resumes production after one year

Usmania Glass Sheet Factory Ltd (UGSFL), a state-owned glass manufacturer, resumed production yesterday after a one-year gap.

After successfully producing 1 lakh square feet of glass under a trial operation, the company had returned to production in full swing, said Md Al Amin Munshi, executive engineer (chemical) of the company based in Chattogram.

The production of the company, a subsidiary of the Bangladesh Chemical Industries Corporation (BCIC), came to a halt after its reactor was damaged in a fire incident on June 23 last year.

The BCIC repaired the reactor at the cost of Tk 3 crore, and the heating resumed in the middle of June. It needs one-and-a-half months to come into production after the beginning of the heating.

UGSFL officials said that the authorities had taken several initiatives to modernise and expand to survive the competition. A proposal was awaiting approval from the government.

The company plans to make container glass (bottle) from next year. The BCIC has recently called for tenders to conduct a feasibility study to set up the plant inside the factory. 

Twenty-nine companies took part in the bidding. But the awarding of the work could not be completed because of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

"If we can establish the new plant, it will be possible to make glass bottles in the factory from next year," Md Akhtaruzzaman, managing director of UGSFL, told The Daily Star.

"We hope we will return to profit if it is implemented."

He said the quality of the glass made by UGSFL was good even after using the technology of 1959.

"However, if modern technologies are used, it will be possible to produce internationally standard glass."

UGSFL started its operation in 1960. The second unit began producing glasses in 1970. UGSFL was the only domestic source of glass till 1995.

Later, the state-run firm faced stiff competition when several private groups, including PHP Family, Nasir Glass and MEB Group, made a foray into glass manufacturing, breaking the monopoly of Usmania Glass.

It has a daily glass production capacity of 20 to 22 tonnes. The company sold three million square feet of glass in the last one year from its previous stock. 

Listed on the Dhaka Stock Exchange since 2004, Usmania Glass incurred a loss of Tk 30 crore in the last five years. As a result, it could not pay any dividend in the last two fiscal years.

It paid a 10 per cent dividend in 2017-18, and the highest dividend of 60 per cent was announced in 2007-08.

Shares of Usmania Glass closed 10 per cent higher at Tk 62.70 on the Dhaka Stock Exchange on Thursday.

The government has a 51 per cent stake in the company. The rest of the shares is held by institutional and individual investors.

The domestic glass market is worth around Tk 2,000 crore and new investments are flowing into the sector because of the availability of raw materials locally.

The annual demand for glass is 25 million square feet, and the total production capacity is 30 million square feet.