The Dhaka International Trade Fair (DITF) 2020 attracted a huge crowd on Friday, a public holiday, creating scopes for the city dwellers to visit the event and for the traders to make brisk business.
The 25th edition of the month-long DITF, being held at Sher-e-Bangla Nagar in the city, started attracting visitors since morning, which increased gradually with time.
After the Juma prayer, the visitors were seen entering the fair in long queues. Besides, there were long queues in front of ticket booths.
Many traders expressed their satisfaction with the amount of sales that they made on the day after limited turnout of visitors and poor sales on the opening days of the international event.
Emadul Huq, a small entrepreneur selling handicrafts in the fair, said January 18 is the third Friday after the month-long fair has begun. So, it is important for them to offset their limited sales in earlier days.
"The fair couldn't attract desired number of visitors on first Friday (Jan 3), as it was still in preparation phase."
Later, the fair was suspended on second Friday (Jan 10), when the government launched the countdown to 'Mujib Year' celebration.
"The weather on this Friday (Jan 17) is also favourable for the visitors, as the mercury level is fluctuating at a comfortable level," he added while coping with the thronging visitors.
Sources said the DITF draws huge crowd every year, as the participating businesses from home and abroad offer discount, free gifts, raffle draw and loyalty benefits to the consumers.
The Export Promotion Bureau (EPB), with the support of the Ministry of Commerce (MoC), has organised the trade show.
According to the organisers, the number of stalls has been reduced to 483 this year than that of previous year's 630 to ensure a congenial environment at the venue.
Foreign traders from 21 countries, including India, China, Iran, Malaysia, Bhutan and Germany, have joined the fair alongside local businesses.
A housewife Sheuli Begum along with her family members came to the fair to buy some household items.
She lauded the organisers' decision to keep more open spaces this year to ensure the visitors' comfort.
"I come to the fair to have a glimpse over different products from other countries, including Turkish carpets, Iranian spices and Indian dresses."
She, however, blamed some companies for duping customers by selling locally manufactured goods in the name of foreign products.
The fair remains open for visitors from 10.00 am to 9.30 pm everyday with Tk 40 entry fees for each adult and Tk 20 for each minor.
According to the MoC data, participating businesses bagged export orders worth US$30.43 million in the DITF 2017, $19.46 million in 2018, and $35.50 million in 2019.
Meanwhile, the Dhaka Metropolitan Police has requested the Election Commission through a letter on Thursday to adjourn the DITF on January 29-30 for facilitating the Dhaka north and south city corporation polls.
