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Steel furniture makers in plight as demand drops


Published : 14 Nov 2020 09:24 PM

Steel furniture industry owners in Rajshahi are spending their time in a miserable condition due to fall in the sale of their goods on the backdrop of Coronavirus pandemic. 

Steel furniture industry owners in the city expressed with disappointment that the Coronavirus has broken their back bones. Most of the people in the city are now unemployed due to the situation. 

Though the trading in the business got some momentum after the withdrawal of the lockdown, normal trading like the earlier time of lockdown has not yet been started. As a result, most of the furniture traders are entangled with the bank loan and finding it difficult to repay the loan. 

Some of the traders are now seriously thinking to abandon their business but they can not even do that thinking what will they do after leaving the business.  

Traders informed, after the withdrawal of the lock-down, the selling of goods have been down to a half than the previous time. Now, with scanty of sell with a minimum profit, they are somehow trying to survive with their business.

There are 140-steel furniture shop cum factories along Kadirganj greater road area of the city. The owners of these shops bring steel pipes, sheets and other steel materials from Dhaka and make steel furnitures like Cot, Almirah, Show-case, Chair and Sofa at their shop-cum-factories and selling those.  There are some more furniture shops at Bhadra, Naodapara, Talaimari and Kantakhali areas of the city. 

Ahsan, salesman of New Soukhin Steel of Kadirganj informed, they make steel cot, Khatiya, Sofa and Ulna in their own factory and sell those. Before lock-down they used to sell 80 to 90 furniture a month but now the sell has decreased to 40 in a month. He informed, the price of a cot is between Taka 4,000 to 10,000. 

Reefat Steel only makes and sells Almirah. Shamsul, a worker at the factory informed a steel Almirah is sold at Taka 22,000 for using household purpose while a steel Almirah to be used in office is sold at Taka 11,000. He further said, the selling of goods has been decreased to a half after the strike of Corona virus pandemic. 

Abdus Solaiman, owner of Tushar Metal Industries informed, now the selling of steel furniture has been  decreased due to competition from the furniture made of melamine boards and MDF boards. Moreover, the Coronavirus has broken the backbones of the steel furniture traders. Most of the shops are running somehow, by drawing loans from the banks. As a result, they have also sacked most of their workers and are surviving somehow with small earnings.

Saidur Rahman, owner of Century Steel Furniture at Kadirganj informed, he has been running the steel furniture business for last seventeen-year. But, due to impact of Coronavirus, the selling of steel furniture has dropped drastically. As a result, finding no way, he is now making and selling all Melamine and MDF Board made furniture. 

Zafar Bayezid, Deputy General Manager of BSCIC, Rajshahi, informed the government has so far paid an incentive of Taka 920 million( Taka 92 crore) among the entrepreneurs of small and medium cottage industries to recoup the loss of Coronavirus pandemic. He added, this is an on-going process and would increase further in future.