Online Desk: The Dhaka International Trade Fair (DITF) has yet to hit its stride, despite opening its doors on Sunday.

A visit to the venue on Tuesday revealed a lower-than-expected turnout to the month-long exposition, which participants attributed to several factors including chilly weather and a new, farther-out location at Purbachal.

However, participants were optimistic that visitor numbers and sales would climb, particularly on weekends.

This year’s fair, co-organised as usual by the Ministry of Commerce and the Export Promotion Bureau to promote Bangladesh’s exports, marks the third edition held at the Bangabandhu Bangladesh-China Friendship Exhibition Centre.

The previous venue of the country’s biggest annual trade show was at Agargaon. The new venue is about 28.5km away from Dhaka Zero Point.

“Now we are paying more attention to finalising the stall and bringing the goods,” said trader Abdul Salek, as he got a stall allocation to showcase and sell food items.

He said that many visitors were reluctant to come to the fair thanks to the distance of the venue from the downtown.

However, one visitor, Shohag Mia, praised the quick and hassle-free journey from Lalbag using the Bangladesh Road Transport Corporation (BRTC) shuttle bus service from Farmgate area.

“The travel was quick and hassle-free, thanks to the opening of elevated and Purbachal expressways,” he said, adding that it took only 48 minutes in a city notorious for traffic jams.

The BRTC is running a shuttle bus service from Farmgate, Kuril, Narsigndi and Narayanganj to facilitate transportation for trade fair visitiors. Bus fares from Farmgate and Kuril have been set at Tk 70 and Tk 35, respectively.

While Shohag was eager to explore stalls of foreign participants, particularly from Iran and Turkey, he found a smaller presence of foreign stalls compared to previous years.

Organisers, however, countered that stall numbers have increased to 351, with representation from Singapore, Turkey, Hong Kong, Iran, India and Pakistan.

Navigating the fair proved challenging for another visitor Reaz Uddin.

He complained about the lack of a proper map and the inability of information booth personnel to assist him in locating a specific stall.

“Even the representatives at the information booth could not respond while I was asking for the location of a specific stall,” he said.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina inaugurated the fair on Sunday. She declared ‘handicrafts products’ as the ‘Product of the Year’ for 2024. The trade show is scheduled to conclude on February 20.

The entry fee for the fair has been increased this year to Tk 50 for adults and Tk 25 for children below 12 years of age, from last year’s Tk 40 and Tk 20, respectively.

The trade fair is open from 10:00 am to 9:00 pm daily and to 10:00 pm on weekends.