The Dhaka International Trade Fair (DITF) 2019 attracted huge crowd on Friday, a public holiday, with only seven days left to close the annual event.
People from all walks of society started crowding at the international trade exposition, taking place in the city's Sher-e-Bangla Nagar area.
The DITF gates were opened for the visitors at 10.00am on the day.
Visiting the venue on Friday evening, the FE correspondent found the fair venue fully packed with the visitors.
Traders said buyers were mostly thronging to the stalls offering exclusive gift item on purchase, price discount, raffle draw and free gifts.
Most of the consumer food businesses were offering various types of package, which cost much less than that of regular price.
Anila Roy, a sales representative of a baker's brand Alltime, said they had been facing difficulties to tackle with the inflow of huge number of visitors to their stall.
"We have received more than thousand customers between afternoon and evening today, which is several times higher than other days of the week", she said.
She also said most of the visitors coming to their stall, purchased instead of window-shopping.
"At the opening days, visitors were mostly assessing the offers and looked for some specific. But they are now buying without much discussion", she said.
The sales usually grow at the concluding days of the DITF, she added.
The company has been offering a package full of a dozen types of bakery items at only Tk 500, after a discount of Tk 220 on the regular price, she said.
Ministry of Commerce and Export Promotion Bureau (EPB) of Bangladesh have organised the 24th edition of the DITF.
There are over 600 stalls of various categories, including pavilion, mini pavilion and premiere stall, in the 24th edition of DITF.
According to the organisers, a total of 52 organisations from 22 countries, including United States, United Kingdom, India, Iran, Pak-istan, Australia, Malaysia, South Korea and Japan, are participating in the annual expo.
The foreign pavilions were drawing visitors' special attention, as they were showcasing wide range of unique products brought from other countries.
Abdur Rahman, a local representative of Iranian Sadaf Stone Jewelers, told the FE that they participated in the fair to find a partner in Bangladesh to expand their business.
"The number of sales in the fair is also satisfactory so far", he said.
Hailing foreigner's participation in the fair, Borhan Chowdhury, a visitor said the DITF is a special opportunity to buy some food items and spices available with the Thai and Iranian traders.
He also talked about his interest in Thai pickles, fresh fruits showpiece, and other household items.
However Mr Chowdhury expressed dissatisfaction over fake and duplicate foreign products.
"If you closely observe, you will find some businesses are selling local products by the name of foreign products to lure customers," he said.
Meanwhile, overflowing visitors to the DITF created gridlock on the neighbouring streets around the fair venue.
Vehicular movement was extremely slow in Bijoy Sarani, Manik Mia Avenue, Agargaon Intersection and College Gate area.
According to the organisers, the 24th edition of the DITF is scheduled to conclude on next Friday.
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