Staff Reporter :
The country’s apparel industry, the main export-earning sector, is now bracing for multiple crises from local and international factors.
Interruption in production due to labour unrest and energy shortage, hikes in transportation costs due to the ongoing blockade called by the opposition parties and declines in buyer’s confidence are the major concerns of the entrepreneurs of the sector, the industry insiders said.
They said there was no sign of recovery from the damage to the sector immediately.
Amid the volatile economic situation in the country, overall export earnings have already fallen by 13.64 per cent year on year to $3.76 billion in October, the lowest since July this year, according to Export Promotion Bureau (EPB) data.
The decline was driven by a significant drop in shipments of ready-made garments (RMG), around 84 per cent contributor to the country’s foreign currency earnings.
The RMG sector fetched $3.17 billion in the last month, down by 13.93 per cent from the same month last year.
And due to the downtrend in apparel export earnings caused by the ongoing global economic crisis and soaring inflation in Europe and the US, fear grips the entrepreneurs of the sector.
On the other hand, many factories failed to pay wages on time due to the low work orders, and that is why there were some small incidents of labour unrest in the recent past.
The entrepreneurs of the RMG sector have said that work orders have declined in the past several months due to a fall in global demand caused by Russia-Ukraine war.
Faruque Hassan, President of the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA), said, “The country’s apparel manufactures were struggling for the past few months due to a global economic slowdown and recently the situation deteriorated further due to the political and labour unrest in the country.”
“Work orders remained lower for the past several months due to slow global demand fuelled by high inflation. Besides, some buyers are now postponing previous orders.
Production has not been done for a few days. So, the situation is not good and it will take time to overcome,” the BGMEA president added.
For cooling down the ongoing labour unrest, the government has initiated to end the minimum wage determination process quickly. As part of the steps, it will hold a minimum wage board meeting next Tuesday.
The meeting will be held at the office of the Minimum Wage Board (MWB) at Segunbagicha in the capital to finalize the wages of the workers of the garment industry.
All members of the board have been requested to attend the meeting, according to a press release on Sunday.
BGMEA Vice-President Shahidullah Azim said, “The minimum wages must be realistic.
Illogical wages will increase production cost and it will encourage the buyers to shift their orders to other countries.”
“The work orders have already declined amid the global economic slowdown.
On the other hand, the production cost has already gone up significantly due to the increase in prices of gas, electricity and other expenses in just one year,” he added.
