Spinning industry on the brink Stakeholders warn

Business Report :

Bangladesh’s spinning industry is in a “severe survival crisis” due to a surge in dumped foreign yarn, rising production costs and intensifying global competition, industry stakeholders warned Thursday.

At a press conference at the National Press Club, mill employees under the banner “Workers, Employees, and Officials Employed in the Spinning Industry” urged the government to impose anti-dumping duties and introduce safeguard measures to prevent further decline.

Engineer Azhar Ali, chief operating officer of Salma Group, said many exporting countries heavily subsidise yarn producers, enabling them to export at prices far below Bangladesh’s production costs.

As a result, local yarn is losing competitiveness while the market is being flooded with imported yarn at dumping-level prices.

He said the post-Covid slowdown, the Ukraine war, the dollar crisis and steep hikes in gas and electricity tariffs have already forced nearly 40 percent of spinning mills to shut down, leaving almost one lakh workers jobless. Mills still operating are running at only 50-60 percent capacity.

Presiding over the event, Ruhul Amin, executive director of Greentex Composite Mills Ltd, warned that persistent dumping is eroding the market share of local producers and could ultimately threaten the entire apparel sector.

Industry insiders called for incentives for garment exporters using local yarn, protective duties, reinstatement of the EDF facility, increased use of local raw materials and support for recycled products.

They also demanded low-interest, long-term loans for machinery upgrades and measures to counter the impact of the taka’s depreciation.

Azhar Ali noted that while gas and electricity prices have risen by 350 percent, product prices in the textile sector have not been adjusted. He urged a 30 percent rebate on utility bills and a two-year emergency stimulus for export-oriented factories.

The event was attended by several industry representatives, including Shahinul Haque, Abul Kalam Azad, Shantimoy Dutta, and ABM Sirajul Islam.