Carew hand sanitisers remain unsold
Despite last year's flying start with the production of hand sanitisers, state-owned Carew & Co is now desperate for customers for 60,000 bottles of disinfectant it has in its store.
The lone state distiller started producing hand sanitiser on March 23 this past year and made a profit of Tk 1.2 crore in three months to June.
But sales started falling drastically after that thanks to an increased supply of the soap from private manufacturers and marketers and reduced demand among people, said Abu Saeed, managing director of Carew & Co (Bangladesh).
Towards the end of June this past year, the business had a stock of 100,000 bottles and within the next nine months to March this season it might sell only 40,000 bottles.
"Having less marketing and a fall popular are to be blamed for the reduction in sales," Saeed said.
Carew gets the licence to market spirits, which is the primary ingredient for generating hand sanitisers.
The company produces sanitisers by mixing distilled water, colour and scent with it.
The state company commenced creating the hand rubs when its demand skyrocketed within a short while after the first coronavirus-infected patient was detected in Bangladesh on March 8 in 2020.
The business started selling the merchandise through three approved outlets and 13 of its depots.
The demand for sanitisers has increased again with the emergence of the next wave of coronavirus in the country amid a growth in Covid infections.
In the last a day alone, 83 persons died of Covid-19, according to data of the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS). With this, the full total number of Covid deaths reached 10,952 and the death count stands at 1.48 %, the DGHS said.
But still Carew is hardly getting any buyers because of its products now.
"Carew's sanitiser is way effective and cheaper than other products we normally get. But I couldn't think it is anywhere local after collecting first two bottles from the Suger corporation's Motijheel office," Shahan Shahrior, a regular user of the sanitiser, told The Daily Star.
"I think it can be a profitable venture for a state-owned company. It can serve the persons in this pandemic by supplying hand sanitiser at a cheap rate."
But for that the business should make the product available everywhere, he said.
"You can't really ask customers to go to certain places to get Carew's hand sanitisers when practically dozen other types of them can be purchased in the nearest shops."
"Only those who know about the merchandise are buying our sanitiser," said Mazhar-ul-Haq Khan, chief marketing officer of Bangladesh Sugar & Food Industries Corporation (BSFIC), which runs Carew & Co.
"In fact, we did not even work on how to sell the merchandise after its production. That's why our sales slowed."
Khan said his company had contacted online grocery and food product suppliers to market the sanitisers. "But none showed that much interest inside our product."
"We will emphasise more on marketing with the start of production of the brand new batch of hand sanitisers where we will use a fresh wrapper."
A proposal to launch new wrappers and sell each 100ml new bottle of the sanitiser at Tk 120 got the go-ahead in a recent board meeting of the business, officials said.
Several companies have the same product to attract buyers on the market, said Arifur Rahman Apu, chairman of the BSFIC.
"If the new sanitiser sprayer bottle is released in the market in a far more attractive way, it'll become popular among the people."
Carew's managing director said they will sell the unsold products first to avoid any financial loss and choose new production.
