DHAKA (Reuters) - Bangladesh has begun producing environmentally friendly yarn from cotton waste to save foreign currency on imports, a local company said on Wednesday. "We have set up the factory to produce cotton yarn by using waste from ready-made garment products to export to foreign markets," said Anwar-Ul-Alam Chowdhury Parvez, managing director of Evitex Polycot Limited (EPL).
DHAKA (Reuters) - Bangladesh has begun producing environmentally friendly yarn from cotton waste to save foreign currency on imports, a local company said on Wednesday.
"We have set up the factory to produce cotton yarn by using waste from ready-made garment products to export to foreign markets," said Anwar-Ul-Alam Chowdhury Parvez, managing director of Evitex Polycot Limited (EPL).
EPL is 49 percent stake owned by Swiss firm Texta A B.
Its plant, 60 km (38 miles) north of Dhaka city, will produce up to 5,000 tonnes of yarn a year, he told Reuters.
!ADVERTISEMENT!Parvez, also president of the Bangladesh garment manufacturers and exporters association, said reclaiming cotton in this way could eventually meet nearly 25 percent of the country's cotton demand.
Bangladesh spends nearly $1.1 billion a year on 2.7 million bales of imported cotton, mainly from Uzbekistan and also from India, Pakistan, Turkmenistan and the United States.
The cotton is used to produce yarn to make clothing, which is the main source of export earnings. The garment industry generates three-quarters of Bangladesh's export income.
Bangladesh exports hit a record $12.18 billion in the 2006/07 financial year, of which more than $9 billion came from garments. The textile sector employs 2.2 million, mostly women.
($1 = 68.58 taka)
(Reporting by Serajul Islam Quadir; editing by Chris Johnson)
