The country's major manufactures of potato flakes have closed their factories, despite this year's bumper potato crop, complaining that they are unable to raise working capital to run the plants.
Officials of Patwary Potato Flakes Limited (PPFL), one of the four potato flakes producers of the country, said their factory is capable of producing between 7,700-8,000 tonnes of potato flakes a year but they are unable to do so due to lack of working capital to buy potatoes. “ Potatoes are produced in abundance in Bangladesh, but the problem is that we don't have enough money to purchase enough of the produce to run production round the year,” Abdul Awal Patwary, chairman and managing director of PPFL. Producers blame the failure on changes in government policy. Initially the producers were encouraged by the government to set up the plants through loans from state owned banks. However once up and running the government refused to provide further loans, leaving all flake producers in the lurch.
