Kazi Zahidul Hasan :
With Christmas approaching in the Western world, garment exporters on Friday warned of a severe adverse impact of three days Jamaat hartal on their shipments.
They said, now it is the peak time for shipment of garment products. Any disruption in their production and transportation due to hartal could make the buyers confidence shaky and affect volume of order from Bangladesh.
According to a study of Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA), the industry incurs $2.0 billion loss in value addition from a single day country-wide shutdown.
“Industry had to sustain huge loses from hartals as both production and shipment are being seriously disrupted by it,” BGMEA Vice-President Shahidullah Azim told The New Nation yesterday.
He said the readymade garment (RMG) industry has long been struggling for its survival due to unfavourable business situation in the country like infrastructure bottleneck. “Now destructive political programme like hartal has emerged as the biggest threat for the industry,” he added.
The industry suffered serious setback from last year’s political unrest, tragic industrial incidents, GSP cancellation by the US government. At the same time, the buyers were pressing to improve occupational safety and labour rights in the sector leading the industry into further difficulty, he said.
He added: All these internal and external factors later helped cut apparel export growth significantly.
The BGMEA leader also said that when the industry was struggling to deal with much adversity, introduction of hartal politics afresh puts the industry at grave risk.
“Buyers may shift their orders fearing more volatility in the political arena in the coming days and if it happens, a significant portion of orders could be diverted to other competitors countries leading to closure of a good number of factories,” he noted.
Referring to last year’s political instability, he said, buyers had shifted export orders worth $500 million to India, Myanmar, Vietnam and Cambodia even at higher prices than Bangladesh to get uninterrupted supply of clothes due to the restive political progarmme in Bangladesh.
Shahidullah Azim, however, urged all the political parties to realise the adverse impact of the industry and refrain from calling hartal so that RMG exporters can continue their normal factory operation as well as shipment activities.
“Like previous hartal, this time it is also hindering free movement of import and export cargoes affecting our shipments. It comes at a time when the exporters are busy for executing Christmas orders,” said President of Bangladesh Knitwear Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BKMEA), AKM Selim Osman.
He added: Although, it is our pick time for shipment, delivery of export cargoes will face serious setback due to three day hartal enforced by Jamaat. Many of the apparel exporters have already missed their export deadlines during the Thursday’s hartal and they will now ship their goods by air causing huge financial losses.
“We cannot expect hartal from any political party because it is bringing destructive impact on the national economy. It not only affects the country’s export trade but also disrupts all industrial production, small and wholesale businesses and banking transaction and economic activities as a whole,” said AKM Selim Osman.
He further said the political parties should avoid hartals and acts of street violence and introduce alternatives of hartal considering the vital issue of the economy.
The BKMEA leader also urged Jamaat to call off their hartal considering interest of the industry.
Export earnings from the RMG sector has seen slow growth during the first quarter of the current fiscal through it contributes 81 per cent to total export.
“Our competitors have managed to achieve significant growth whereas our growth continues to fall in the wake of safety concern by the global buyers and rise in production cost,” said AKM Selim Osman MP, adding, “When the industry is facing multifarious challenge, political unrest at home might lead the industry on the verge of collapse.”
According to an official figure, the country’s apparel export witnessed a meager growth of 0.47 per cent during July-September period of the current fiscal (2014-15). During the period, Bangladesh earned $6.23 billion from RMG exports compared to $6.20 billion in the same period of previous fiscal.
With Christmas approaching in the Western world, garment exporters on Friday warned of a severe adverse impact of three days Jamaat hartal on their shipments.
They said, now it is the peak time for shipment of garment products. Any disruption in their production and transportation due to hartal could make the buyers confidence shaky and affect volume of order from Bangladesh.
According to a study of Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA), the industry incurs $2.0 billion loss in value addition from a single day country-wide shutdown.
“Industry had to sustain huge loses from hartals as both production and shipment are being seriously disrupted by it,” BGMEA Vice-President Shahidullah Azim told The New Nation yesterday.
He said the readymade garment (RMG) industry has long been struggling for its survival due to unfavourable business situation in the country like infrastructure bottleneck. “Now destructive political programme like hartal has emerged as the biggest threat for the industry,” he added.
The industry suffered serious setback from last year’s political unrest, tragic industrial incidents, GSP cancellation by the US government. At the same time, the buyers were pressing to improve occupational safety and labour rights in the sector leading the industry into further difficulty, he said.
He added: All these internal and external factors later helped cut apparel export growth significantly.
The BGMEA leader also said that when the industry was struggling to deal with much adversity, introduction of hartal politics afresh puts the industry at grave risk.
“Buyers may shift their orders fearing more volatility in the political arena in the coming days and if it happens, a significant portion of orders could be diverted to other competitors countries leading to closure of a good number of factories,” he noted.
Referring to last year’s political instability, he said, buyers had shifted export orders worth $500 million to India, Myanmar, Vietnam and Cambodia even at higher prices than Bangladesh to get uninterrupted supply of clothes due to the restive political progarmme in Bangladesh.
Shahidullah Azim, however, urged all the political parties to realise the adverse impact of the industry and refrain from calling hartal so that RMG exporters can continue their normal factory operation as well as shipment activities.
“Like previous hartal, this time it is also hindering free movement of import and export cargoes affecting our shipments. It comes at a time when the exporters are busy for executing Christmas orders,” said President of Bangladesh Knitwear Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BKMEA), AKM Selim Osman.
He added: Although, it is our pick time for shipment, delivery of export cargoes will face serious setback due to three day hartal enforced by Jamaat. Many of the apparel exporters have already missed their export deadlines during the Thursday’s hartal and they will now ship their goods by air causing huge financial losses.
“We cannot expect hartal from any political party because it is bringing destructive impact on the national economy. It not only affects the country’s export trade but also disrupts all industrial production, small and wholesale businesses and banking transaction and economic activities as a whole,” said AKM Selim Osman.
He further said the political parties should avoid hartals and acts of street violence and introduce alternatives of hartal considering the vital issue of the economy.
The BKMEA leader also urged Jamaat to call off their hartal considering interest of the industry.
Export earnings from the RMG sector has seen slow growth during the first quarter of the current fiscal through it contributes 81 per cent to total export.
“Our competitors have managed to achieve significant growth whereas our growth continues to fall in the wake of safety concern by the global buyers and rise in production cost,” said AKM Selim Osman MP, adding, “When the industry is facing multifarious challenge, political unrest at home might lead the industry on the verge of collapse.”
According to an official figure, the country’s apparel export witnessed a meager growth of 0.47 per cent during July-September period of the current fiscal (2014-15). During the period, Bangladesh earned $6.23 billion from RMG exports compared to $6.20 billion in the same period of previous fiscal.
