Bangladesh garment industry fear slow down due to unrest
DailyIndia.com, FL
Dhaka, Nov 23 (IANS) Beset with prolonged political unrest that has disrupted their business, Bangladesh’s garment and knitwear exporters fear long-term adverse impact from increased competition from China, Pakistan and Vietnam.
Worse, the foreign buyers are ‘not sympathetic’ to their woes that are ‘man-made’ and not in the same category as a natural disaster like floods or cyclone that hits Bangladesh from time to time
Ranah George Abraham, the country sourcing manger of the Levi Strauss, a Hong Kong-based subsidiary of the global brands Levi’s and Dockers, told the New Age newspaper: ‘We are in problem with our scheduled productions and shipments disrupted by the political unrest here.’
‘Customers of Bangladeshi apparels will not be sympathetic to the local suppliers’ predicament in face of the political unrest, as this is a man-made crisis, not a natural disaster,’ said Abraham.
Leaders of Readymade Garments Manufacturers and Knitwear Manufacturers’ Associations have threatened to take to the streets that are already choking with agitating political parties over stalemate regarding the revamping of the Election Commission.
The interim government headed by President Iajuddin Ahmed, struggling for the past four weeks to overcome the political stalemate, has only given assurance to the industry with no action to calm their fears.
They claimed the industry is losing Taka two billion (about $29 million) a day due to the disruption in the production and export.
Readymade garment, the country’s largest industrial and export sector, which employs 2.2 million people and earned $8 billion in the last fiscal year, has been among the worst-effected by the blockade of the Awami League-led alliance, said industry leaders.
The work at ports has been suspended for the past weeks and the run up to elections has always been a volatile period.
Bangladesh’s biggest foreign exchange earner, the twin industry was badly hit earlier in the year by violent agitations by workers over unhealthy working conditions and poor wages.
An estimated 100 factories were destroyed, burnt down or damaged, causing losses worth Taka 400 million.
‘Uncertainty may compel some buyers to divert their future procurements from Bangladesh to elsewhere,’ warned Abraham.
She pointed to three looming threats to Bangladeshi exporters – revoking of the interim restriction on Chinese apparels’ access to the US and European Union markets by 2014, Vietnam’s entry to the World Trade Organisation last month, and sharpening competitiveness of Pakistani textiles manufacturers in recent times.
‘It is not so important how much loss we have suffered during the last few days turmoil but the real damaging factor will be its long-term impact,’ said A.K.M. Fazlul Hoque, president of the Bangladesh Knitwear Manufacturers and Exporters’ Association.
Fazlul Hoque, who was in Germany last week, said: ‘Buyers in Germany (the number-one destination of Bangladesh-made knitwear) were anxiously asking whether the political unrests would continue into the coming months and they could rely to put orders for the coming seasons.’
Copyright Indo-Asian News Service
