Samsung is all set to assemble phones locally in Bangladesh from next month. Samsung has partnered with the local firm Fair Electronics Ltd to make 4G smartphones locally in the country. Production will kickstart from the second week of May, and the first batch of ‘Made in Bangladesh’ Samsung phones are expected to be in the market by June.
Fair Electronics Ltd has inaugurated a new 58,000 square-feet manufacturing plant in Narsingdi, Bangladesh, as part of the plan. The plant is expected to have three production lines with over 500 employees and the capacity to produce a few hundred thousand devices every month. The production capacity of the plant is reportedly enough to address the market demand in Bangladesh.
Prices will come down in Bangladesh
Samsung will be supplying all the parts to the local partner, provide training to the workers, and will place stringent quality checks to ensure finished products from the plant are of international quality. Initially, only entry-level and mid-range smartphones will be assembled at the plant before gradually moving to the higher-end smartphones.
Last year, Samsung accounted for 26 percent of the total imported smartphones into Bangladesh. Currently, import of finished mobile devices into Bangladesh attract up to 29.50 percent in taxes. By assembling phones locally, Samsung will be able to bring this tax to somewhere between one and 10 percent depending on various factors. Samsung is hoping to pass part of the savings to the customers through reduced prices.
Samsung accomplished a similar feat in neighboring India by manufacturing phones locally. When the Indian government increased taxes on imported smartphones, firms like Apple were forced to increase the price of their products to offset the additional cost until they could start manufacturing locally, while Samsung’s smartphone prices largely remained unchanged as the company had previously been making devices in India.
