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LONDON, Dec 25 (BDNEWS): Demand for vegetables, frozen fish and dry food from Bangladesh are witnessing robust growth in the British market especially in the Bangladeshis-owned restaurants and cash and carry retail shops across Britain, market sources said.
Although marketing of these products still remained confined to the large South Asian expatriate communities in Britain, import of vegetables and dry food, including biscuit, chanachur, pickle and dry fish, into Britain witnessed a hundred percent growth in the current year.
The frozen fish import is also witnessing almost eighty percent growth in the current fiscal over the previous year, according to the official statistics available from the Commercial wing of the Bangladesh High Commission in London.
Shrimp, another major export item of Bangladesh, is however witnessing a decline in export, market sources said.
"Demand for food items including vegetables, frozen fish, shrimp and dry food is growing amid expansion of the Bangladeshis owned businesses in London," said Shahabuddin Patwari, Commercial Counsellor of the Bangladesh High Commission in London.
In the FY 2004-05 (June-July), export of Bangladeshi vegetables to Britain was worth $19 million with a hundred percent growth, as the export was worth only $9.5 million in the FY 2003-04, according to the official statistics.
The volume of retail sales in Britain during the September-November period of 2005 was 1.0 per cent higher than that of the previous three months. This follows a growth of 0.7 per cent in three months to October and 0.8 per cent during the same period of 2004, according to the official statistics of the British government.
Euro Food, Sea Mark and Bangla Town cash and carry retail shops are the major importers of Bangladeshi frozen fish, vegetables, shrimp and dry food in Britain, said Patwari. "These companies have significantly raised their supplies in the local market in recent times."
Farukh Miah, an importer and owner of Kushiara Cash and Carry, one of the biggest Bangladeshi retail food shops in Britain, said: "The demand for fishes, with a selling price range of four to ten pounds, is growing among our fixed customers."
His annual import of Bangladeshi dry food and frozen fish is worth around £7 50,000.
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