The celebration of “Agrajatra” - meaning Moving Forward, the annual mega event of SQ Group continued on February 20, 2019, at Celsius Unit 1, located at Mawna.

Spring, or Boshonto in Bengali, is the season of happiness, warmth, and growth, as we observe fresh buds blooming, birds chirping, animals awakening from winter hiatus, as the earth comes to life again after the gloomy winter.

Currently, Bangladesh is the second largest apparel exporter in the world. The country is producing apparel items for most of the globally renowned fast fashion brands in the world. A number of high street brands have flocked into the country already.

Bangladesh Ambassador to the Netherlands Sheikh Mohammed Belal has said effective partnership with the Dutch as well as other European buyers will facilitate Bangladesh’s apparel sector to cope with the challenges in a smarter way, reports UNB.

Bangladesh’s apparel exports to India continue to skyrocket with 167 per cent growth during the first three months of fiscal 2018-19; reminding, once again, how big the neighboring market’s potential is.

Bangladesh is becoming a more popular apparel sourcing destination for Western retailers thanks to the ongoing US-China trade war, said a latest survey by the Asia Inspection (AI), a Hong Kong-based global inspection and accreditation body.

Vietnam and Bangladesh should make stronger efforts to translate their potential into sound cooperation in economics, trade and investment, said Vietnam’s Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc during a meeting with Bangladeshi Commerce Minister Tofail Ahmed in Hanoi.

One of the biggest Swedish fashion company Gina Tricot has launched their sourcing office in Dhaka on 6 September at Banani in the capital. The Swedish company has more than 2000 employees worldwide

Hennes & Mauritz AB (H&M), a Swedish multinational clothing-retail company known for its fast-fashion clothing, recently organized ‘Sustainability Summit 2018’ in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Day by day sustainability issues are being more popular and inevitable for the textile and apparel industry. At the same time, to achieve sustainability in all aspects, world leaders are coming forward. In this regard, the United Nations Development Program has declared the Sustainable Development Goals, a collection of 17 global goals, which are the blueprint to achieve a better and more sustainable future for all

India is now emerging as one of the fastest growing markets for Bangladesh’s readymade garment export, said Harsh Vardhan Shringla, Indian high commissioner, yesterday.

Sweater, a sub-sector of the apparel sector, has seen a sharp growth in the last fiscal year, thanks to prolonged winter in the western world. According to latest data of the Export Promotion Bureau (EPB), in the fiscal year 2017-18, Bangladesh earned $3.67 billion, which is 9.32% higher compared to the $3.36 billion it earned in FY16-17 in sweater export.

Bangladesh is on fast-track to becoming a developing nation by 2021. Having made significant progress on the key parameters of transition – Economic Vulnerability Index (EVI), Human Assets Index (HAI) and Gross National Income Per Capita (GNI) – it’s just a matter of time before the country sheds its LDC tag to join the big league of developing nations.

The government is going to set a time-bound action plan for completing remediation work in the readymade garment factories which were inspected under the government-led and International Labour Organisation-supported initiative.

Bangladesh’s apparel factories have come a long way from the shoddy state they were in five years ago during the deadly Rana Plaza collapse. Now, the nation boasts of having among the most exemplary line of compliant factories around the globe.

Commerce minister Tofail Ahmed on Tuesday said that Japan showed interest to invest more in Bangladesh especially in the textile sector.‘Japan is also interested to hire Bangladeshi people for its textile sector,’ Tofail said at a post-Japan visit press conference at the Bangladesh Secretariat in Dhaka.

The revealed comparative advantage (RCA) of the clothing industry of Bangladesh is very high compared to its major global competitors like China, Vietnam and India. A report published in Mint on Monday unveiled the scenario.

The apparel industry in Bangladesh needs to adopt efficient management practices to improve productivity and increase its global competitiveness, said experts at a PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) Summit on “Driving Transformation in Bangladesh’s Apparel Industry” on Wednesday in Chittagong.At the event, experts said the sector today contributes to 12% of the country’s GDP and 83% of its exports.

We are extremely glad to announce that, the Accord on Fire and Building Safety (Accord) has recognized SQ Celsius Limited for successfully completing all remediation measures required from the Accord initial inspections for fire, electrical, and structural safety. Accord engineers have physically verified that all items of the corrective action plan, developed from the Accord initial inspections and approved by the Accord Chief Safety Inspector, have been correctly repaired.

The country’s export earnings from the United States (US) and European countries have registered a significant growth in the FY 2017–18 (July–June). This has marked a growth of around 8.76 per cent for apparel shipments. Export Promotion Bureau (EPB) data shows that exports to most European countries, such as the United Kingdom (UK), Spain, and Netherlands, have registered double-digit growth in the of FY 2017–18. The value of exports of readymade garments to Germany now stands at USD 5.58 billion as against USD 5.35 billion in export earnings from the US market.

We are very pleased and honored to announce that, Q Collection Pte Limited (holding company of SQ Celsius Ltd) has achieved very prestigious “Supplier Performance Top 10- Spring/Summer 2018” award by ESPRIT.

US Ambassador to Bangladesh Marcia Bernicat said USA is the number one consumer of Bangladesh’s exports, especially ready-made garment (RMG) products. Bernicat praised leading apparel and garment producers in Bangladesh for choosing top-quality US cotton to produce products that are in demand throughout the world. US cotton is helping to drive growth in the RMG sector in Bangladesh, she added.

Bangladesh Sustainability Compact was reviewed in Brussels on 25 June at the fourth high-level follow-up meeting. Commerce Minister Tofail Ahmed demanded it while delivering his speech at the fourth high-level follow-up meeting of the Sustainability Compact entitled “Five Years after the Launch of the Sustainability Compact: Taking Stock and Staying Engaged” held at Albert Borschette Conference Centre. At the event, progress made under the Compact as well as what remains to be done were discussed.

We are proud to announce that SQ has won a prestigious global award from Sainsbury’s at its Suppliers Conference held in Hong Kong. We take pride for our unique approach towards developing a sustainable framework to improve living conditions of all our employees, especially the floor population.

Accord on Fire and Building Safety in Bangladesh, a platform of European buyers and retailers, is going to start its work as Transition Accord from June 1 and it would continue its operation until a national body becomes fully ready to take over the responsibility of readymade garment factory safety monitoring from the buyers’ platform.

The country’s apparel makers claimed on Saturday that Bangladesh’s readymade garment sector has become a role model in the world for its safe working condition due to vigorous safety initiatives taken by the entrepreneurs after the Rana Plaza building collapse in 2013. ‘Rana Plaza collapse was the turning point for the country’s RMG sector and following the disaster, factory owners have been paying attention to ensure a safe working condition as well as a sustainable industry.

Majority of the garment workers in the country have been left out of the formal banking system as they are paid wages in cash, experts at a panel discussion said Thursday. They also recommended taking up pragmatic and commercially viable projects to bring the large workforce under formal banking system and improve their financial security.

Clean Clothes Campaign (CCC) and its allies have started a week of action urging apparel brands in Bangladesh to create safer workplace by signing the 2018 Transition Accord. The civil society campaign organized an event on Tuesday, a week ahead of five-year anniversary of Rana Plaza collapse that claimed more than 1,100 people, according to an article published on the campaign’s website.

Iraqi businessmen are willing to import readymade garments (RMG) from Bangladesh, said Bangladesh Ambassador to Iraq Abu Maksud M Forhad.He made the observation at a courtesy call on BGMEA President Md Siddiqur Rahman at his office in the capital on Monday. BGMEA Vice President (finance) Mohammed Nasir was present at the meeting.

Manufacturers of the country’s garment accessories on Wednesday urged the revenue authority to restrain the tax at source to 0.50 percent from 0.70 percent. The sector leaders made the proposals at a pre-budget meeting arranged by the National Board of Revenue (NBR) at its auditorium in the city.

The government has decided to introduce ‘Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) Good Practice Award’ for the apparel industries from this year. The decision was taken at a meeting on Sunday held at the ministry here with State Minister for Labour and Employment M Mujibul Haq in the chair, said an official release, reports BSS.

SDC summit creates awareness on chemical compliance in the textile supply chain Society of Dyers and Colorist (SDC) organized an International summit at Hotel Six Season in Dhaka aiming to create awareness about chemical compliance among three major sectors of the textile supply chain namely certification, coloration and fashion. The prestigious summit had a gathering of textile testing laboratories, brands and retailers, buyers, dye houses and academia.

Germany, the second largest export destination for Bangladeshi apparel after the United States, recently has once again emerged as Bangladesh’s largest export market in July-February of the current fiscal 2017-18 due to negative growth in readymade garments export to US market.

Commerce Minister Tofail Ahmed requested Russia to provide duty and quota free access to Bangladesh for readymade garments (RMG). “Export would be boosted if Russia provides duty and quota free access to Bangladeshi RMG,” he added. The commerce minister made the request to the Russian Deputy Minister for Agriculture Affairs Levin Sergey Lvovich during a meeting at his ministry office, said a press release. Levin is leading a seven-member delegation of Russia.

Export earnings from the Readymade Garment (RMG) increased by 8.3 per cent or US$ 584.87 million in October to December quarter of 2017 than the corresponding quarter of previous year 2016, reports BSS. “Contribution of RMG sector in the country’s export earnings is increasing day by day as the government has taken various steps to improve overall workplace safety and compliance in RMG sector,” a Bangladesh Bank official told the news agency yesterday.

Green building is spirited by sustainable way of constructing a building. The original 1987 Bruntland Commission definition of sustainability is that “Sustainable development is the development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs”. According to this definition the Green building is the way of constructing, operating, and maintaining the real estate to meet the needs of today but without compromising the ability of the future generations to meet the needs of future.

The shipping of sweaters from Bangladesh is rising for the competitive prices and longer winters in the western world due to climate change. According to data from the Export Promotion Bureau, Bangladesh exported sweaters worth $3.37 billion in fiscal 2016-17, up 5.64 percent year-on-year.

SQ Cricket Team Participated in the “Tu Friendly Cricket Tournament-2018”. It was an initiative of Sainsbury’s. The tournament was held on January 26-27, 2018. Apart from SQ group there were seven teams including sainsbury’s participated in the tournament.

With much pleasure, the management of SQ announces the appointment of Graham Makin as Non-Executive Director of the Group, effective August 1, 2015.