Business Desk :
A committee has been jointly formed by the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers & Exporters Association (BGMEA), and the Bangladesh Knitwear Manufacturers & Exporters Association (BKMEA) for fixing minimum price and manufacturing cost of apparel products.
A meeting was held regarding this at the BGMEA office in the capital on Saturday.
It has been a common scenario prevalent for many years about unhealthy competition over prices of export-oriented apparel products among manufacturers.
Although it has been criticized at various times by business leaders and manufacturers, no initiative was ever taken to mitigate it, until now.
BGMEA President Faruque Hassan chaired the meeting while BGMEA Vice President Shahidullah Azim, Vice President Miran Ali, Director Asif Ashraf, BKMEA Executive President Mohammad Hatem, Vice President Fazlee Shamim Ehsan, Vice President Md. Akhter Hossain Apurbo, and Director Imran Kader Turjo were also present to discuss the issue and to form a committee.
The 15-member committee, headed by BKMEA vice president Fazlee Shamim Ehsan, will conduct thorough analyses of manufacturing cost, cost of inputs and the export price of the finished goods.
The committee will then find empirical facts by consulting with wider stakeholders including yarn, fabric, dying, processing, embroidery/embellishment and accessories manufacturers to understand associated costs and their dynamics including the lead-time and its impact on the overall cost of making a garment.
The exercise will also include an analysis of product specific standard minute value (SMV) along with production processes and techniques, efficiency and other relevant factors in determining minimum price and manufacturing cost of garment products.
