The sea-borne exports consist chiefly of ready made garments, knitwear, frozen food, jute and jute products, leather and leather products, tea, and chemical products. There is also a large trade by country boats, bringing chiefly cotton, rice, spices, sugar andtobacco. Sailing ships built in Chittagong include the Betsey, the Argo, and the Mersey. Ship breaking was introduced to the area in 1969. This industry is concentrated at Faujderhat, a 16 kilometres (9.9 mi) long beach 20 kilometres (12 mi) north-west of Chittagong. Chittagong is also home to a large number of industries from small to heavy. Around 40% of the heavy industrial activities of the country is located in Chittagong city and adjacent areas, which include drydocks, dock yards, an oil refinery, steel mills, power plants, cement clinker factoriess, automobile industry, pharmaceutical industry, chemical plants, Cable manufacturing, textile manufacturing, jute mill,urea fertilizer factory along with other private sector medium size industrial developments and activities.
Currently, there are three export processing zones (EPZ) in Chittagong, two state owned and another private. The main Chittagong Export Processing Zone, operated by the Bangladesh Export Processing Zone Authority (BEPZA), is the largest export processing zone in Bangladesh with 453 acres of land, located in South Halishahar. In June 2010, the London-based magazine The Financial Times ranked it the 3rd Best Cost Competitive Zone in the world and the 4th in the Best Economic Potential for Fiscal Year 2010-11.Karnaphuli Export Processing Zone, also operated by BEPZA, is located in North Patenga, with an area of 222 acres. The other private EPZ Korean Export Processing Zone was established and operated by a South Korean company Youngone Corporation. The Korean Export Processing Zone and is expected to attract foreign direct investment worth $1 billion.
The city of Chittagong had been long neglected by the Bangladeshi
