Another bitter Baishakh for lovely shops
Pahela Baishakh, the first day time of the Bangla calendar, may be the busiest moment for sweet makers in Bangladesh as buyers throng outlets to get delicious items.
But the collapse popular due to the year-very long pandemic and fresh countrywide lockdown has dampened the festive mood.
Over the years, the event is just about the biggest occasion for sweetmeat manufacturers on the trunk of a rising trend among corporates to send present hampers, containing sweet items, with their clients and vendors.
Thanks to the corporate purchase, producers would sell up to 100 tonnes of sweets value about Tk 3 crore each day between April 9 and 17.
It is a traditions to welcome the Bangla new year, which falls on April 14, with sweets. The sales before Pahela Baishakh and through the entire month are the second biggest spending time of year after Eid-ul-Fitr.
But shop-owners tell you the sales quantity will not be greater than a third of the common time, or Tk 1 crore each day across the country during the period.
Here is the second year in row that sweetmeat stores have lower sales as a result of the impact of Covid-19.
One particular gloomy vendor is High quality Sweets, a high-end brand and a popular among corporates.
"This season is slightly much better than the previous as outlets possess remained open for several hours of the day. But the demand is certainly low as you will find a insufficient bulk orders compared to the pre-pandemic years," explained Mahbubur Rahman Bakul, brain of corporate affairs of Prime Sweets.
Because of low sales, the business has temporarily closed 3 of its outlets found in the city.
Mithai, a sister concern of Pran-RFL Group, got a bumper Pahela Baishakh yearly since its inception in 2015.
"But the scenario is quite different this year," explained Kamruzzaman Kamal, director for advertising of the group.
The business has 43 stores and offers 15 types of surprise boxes and hampers weighing 1 kg to 4 kg.
Kamal said: "Because of the lockdown, we want to reach the doorstep of buyers through online orders or higher the telephone."
"We usually intend to offer sweets of Tk 1 crore on the 1st evening of Baishakh. But once more, we could not sell ahead of the festival this time around. We did not get an purchase for sweets this season," explained Syed Nurul Islam, CEO of Very well Group, on Monday.
Jane Alam Romel, group chief advertising officer of IDLC Financing, said the business used to send 500 plans containing sweets and different items to stakeholders on the event of Pahela Baishakh before the pandemic.
"We have not sent an individual packet in the last two years."
Similarly, Crown Cement Group used to send 1,500 packets of nice items typically to corporate clientele, well-wishers, media and banking clientele. Like the previous Baishakh, it hasn't sent any sweet what to such stakeholders, explained an official.
A good spokesperson of a food-processing provider said his business would send packets to 300 stakeholders on the eve of Pahela Baishakh. "We've not been undertaking this for two years now."
While there is no reliable data about sweetmeat's industry size in Bangladesh, manufacturers say about 10,000 tonnes of sweets worth Tk 300 crore can be purchased annually. The demand offers halved in comparison to previous years.
Brands such as Muslim, Mithai, Rosh, Top quality Sweets, Banoful, Meena Sweets and Khazana Mithai offer 1,000 tonnes of sweet items combined.
According to Mithai's previous research, the marketplace for sweets has expanded rapidly recently thanks to rising purchasing power.
The require for branded sweets increased by 30 per cent and non-branded by 60 to 70 per cent from 2016 to 2019.
About 3,500 sweet retailers are registered with the Bangladesh Sweets Manufacturers Association. Of them, around 250 are found in the capital.
