$7b jewellery export target set for 2030-31: Muktadir

Commerce Minister Khandakar Abdul Muktadir called for concerted initiatives to realise the huge export potential of Bangladesh's jewellery industry as the Bangladesh Jewellers Association (BAJUS) set a target of earning US$7 billion from gold and diamond jewellery exports by 2030-31. 

He made the call while addressing the 'BAJUS Jewellery Fashion Carnival 2026' in the capital last night (22 August). 

Muktadir emphasised the need for policy support, investment and modernisation of the jewellery industry to make it a competitive export-oriented sector and help increase the country's foreign exchange earnings. 

The minister said the government is committed to creating a favourable business environment and supporting sectors that have the potential to contribute significantly to the national economy. 

BAJUS President Enamul Haque Khan, in his written speech at the event, said the association wants to transform the jewellery sector into the country's second-largest foreign exchange-earning sector by 2030-31. 

He said policy ambiguity is one of the major obstacles to the development of the industry and called for facilitating gold imports through a non-discriminatory policy framework. 

According to BAJUS, easier gold imports could reduce the price of jewellery in the domestic market by at least Tk30,000 per bhori. 

The association said implementation of the proposed 'Gold Policy-2018 (Amended)-2026' could generate Tk2,000-2,500 crore in annual government revenue from the sector. 

It also proposed allowing undisclosed gold to be declared against a one-time fee, saying the measure could generate an additional Tk500-700 crore in revenue and facilitate the creation of a digital database of the country's total gold stock. 

BAJUS has set a target of establishing 500 new modern jewellery factories by 2030 to make the industry export-oriented.  

The proposed factories are expected to create direct employment for 50,000 people and indirect employment for another 100,000. 

The association also demanded 10 bighas of land in Dhaka to establish a specialised economic zone named 'Swarnapalli', which would include a diamond processing unit. 

It said updating the 2006 Rough Diamond Import-Export (Control) Rules and reducing additional duties on diamond imports in line with neighbouring countries would help develop the diamond processing industry. 

BAJUS projects that Bangladesh could export around $2 billion worth of diamond jewellery annually by 2031 if the necessary policy reforms are introduced. 

Water Resources Minister Md Shahiduddin Chowdhury Anee, former National Board of Revenue (NBR) chairman Abdur Rahman Khan FCMA, representatives of different government agencies and diplomats, among others, attended the programme. 

BAJUS said around 2.8 million people are directly and indirectly dependent on the jewellery sector, which represents around 40,000 jewellery businesses and four lakh artisans. 

The association also thanked the government for providing tax and VAT concessions to the jewellery sector in the national budget for fiscal year 2026-27 and urged speedy implementation of further policy reforms.