The Tk 300 crore company sources about 70 percent of the raw materials locally and imports the rest 30 percent materials, mainly chemicals. And it can offer world-class glasses at competitive prices.

PHP Float Glass is the first company in Bangladesh that manufactures 2mm and 12mm float glasses. The float glass company, a concern of PHP Group, is using Chinese Luoyang float glass technology.

Built on around 28 acres of land at Barabkunda in Sitakunda, the modern local glass manufacturing unit went into trial production on June 23 this year and is capable of producing 54,000 tonnes of glass per year, enough to meet the annual glass demand of Bangladesh.

Bangladesh now imports float glasses worth around Tk 300 crore a year, said Managing Director of PHP Group Mohammed Mohsin Chowdhury while briefing a group of journalists on the factory premises on Thursday.

PHP Float Glass will help Bangladesh save a good amount of foreign exchange, he said adding, "The glass unit has also created employment opportunity of around 250 people who work here in three shifts."

The glass can be used in making different products ranging from sophisticated lens to tough doors, Chowdhury said.

Meeting the huge response in the domestic market, the company is also eyeing overseas market to export float glasses. "We have already started the process of exporting glasses to Sri Lanka, our first foreign export destination," he added.

"PHP Float Glass is a single line manufacturing unit. We source silica sand, the basic raw material of float glass, from Sylhet and Comilla," said Shamsul Alam, general manager of PHP Float Glass. The company has also set up a sand-refining unit in Feni where the sands are purified for glass production.Describing the manufacturing process Alam said basic float glass is manufactured by melting silica sand. Besides, ingredients such as soda ash, dolomite, salt cake, feldspar, lime stone and coal powder are added to silica sand to lower the melting temperature of silica and achieve optimal clarity.

Quality control system and clean environmental are integral parts of the production process, Alam said.

The company has its own 10-megawatt power plant and a chemical effluent treatment plant, which guards against any environment hazard, the general manager added.