Kazi Zahidul Hasan :
Garment manufacturers are considering to fix a benchmark export price of local apparels amid tremendous price pressure from global buyers making their business unsustainable.
“We are working on the benchmark price so that our exports can be made viable in line with rising production cost caused by higher wages and factory remediation,” Mohammed Nasir, Vice-President of Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) told The New Nation yesterday.
He said the BGMEA would take the initiative to fix a product-wise benchmark price.
“Local apparel manufacturers are facing tremendous price pressure from international buyers despite the increase in production cost of around 20 per cent in the recent years. But we are unable to pass the higher costs on the buyers hitting our profit margin rock bottom,” said Mohammed Nasir.
“This also made our business unsustainable.”
He said, Bangladesh’s apparel industry is going through massive factory remediation, value addition, innovation and technological upgradation in order to grab more market share and cope up with buyers demands. Now, it is quite impossible to make apparel production sustainable without better price.
“We have already urged the foreign buyers to follow the ethical buying practices. But the buyers have taken a rigid stance to increase export prices forcing us to fix a sustainable price to save the local industry from a potential shock,” said Mohammed Nasir.
He also said that they are not only seeking to increase prices of local apparels to make their business sustainable, but also for the workers benefit.
Bangladesh’s apparel industry has already made remarkable progress in factory remediation, building green factories and meeting stringent safety standards.
The annual export earnings from the industry grew from US$9.3 billion in 2007 to US$ 30 billion in 2018.
“Bangladesh is still a lucrative destination for sourcing low-cost garment items after China. Outside of China, Bangladesh is increasingly given preferences for apparel sourcing due to competitive price and quality,” said Nasir Uddin.
At the same time, Bangladesh’s reputation has also improved globally due to remediation of the garment factories by the Accord and Alliance.
However, buyers do not want to pay higher prices, although the cost of production has gone up due to factory remediation and rise in minimum wages by 50 per cent for apparel workers.
