Garment factories in Bangladesh, one of many world’s largest clothes manufacturing hubs, are struggling to finish orders on time as flooding disrupts their cotton provides — exacerbating a backlog attributable to current political turmoil.
Bangladesh is a number one international cotton importer because of the dimension of its textile and garment business, however the devastating floods imply few vehicles and trains have been capable of carry provides to factories from Chittagong port over the past week, business officers and analysts mentioned.
The disruption, on prime of the unrest and protests that led to manufacturing unit closures earlier this month, have brought on garment manufacturing to fall by 50 p.c, mentioned Mohammad Hatem, president of the Bangladesh Knitwear Producers and Exporters Affiliation.
“The business is now below immense strain to satisfy deadlines, and with no swift decision, the provision chain might deteriorate even additional,” Hatem mentioned.
Bangladesh was ranked because the third-largest exporter of clothes on this planet final 12 months, after China and the European Union, in line with the World Commerce Group, exporting $38.4 billion value of garments in 2023.
On the clothes manufacturing unit she runs within the capital, Dhaka, Rubana Huq is counting the price of misplaced manufacturing.
“Even for a moderate-sized firm like ours, which makes 50,000 shirts a day and if the value of 1 single shirt is $5, there was $250,000 of manufacturing loss,” mentioned Huq, a former president of the Bangladesh Garment Producers and Exporters Affiliation (BGMEA).
She mentioned some garment crops have been slowing resuming manufacturing, however estimated that full restoration “can be no less than six months away”, warning that Bangladeshi producers might lose 10 percent-15 p.c of enterprise to different nations.
Bangladesh’s readymade clothes business, which provides most of the world’s best-known vogue manufacturers, accounts for greater than 80 p.c of the nation’s complete export earnings.
Patrons are adopting a cautious strategy and will probably delay new orders, mentioned Shahidullah Azim, a director of the BGMEA business group.
“The longer this uncertainty persists, the more difficult it turns into for us to keep up the momentum we’ve constructed,” he instructed Reuters.
The Bangladesh Meteorological Division mentioned flood situations might persist if the monsoon rains continued, as water ranges have been receding very slowly.
Some cotton shipments might get diverted to India, Pakistan and Vietnam, commodity analysts mentioned.
“We’re already listening to and seeing some cotton for immediate supply wished by Pakistan and Vietnam,” mentioned Louis Barbera, associate and analyst at VLM Commodities primarily based in New Jersey.
New orders shifted from Bangladesh may be accommodated in southern India, mentioned Atul Ganatra, president of the Cotton Affiliation of India.
Even earlier than the floods and political unrest, the Bangladeshi garment business was grappling with energy shortages that stay an issue, mentioned Fazlee Shamim Ehsan, vice chairman on the nation’s knitwear producers and exporters affiliation.
“Vitality shortages proceed to hamper our operations,” he mentioned.
By Anmol Choubey and Swati Verma, Ruma Paul in Dhaka and Krishn Kaushiki; Enhancing by Naveen Thukral and Helen Popper
Study extra:
Bangladesh Garment Factories Reopen After Interim Authorities Appointed
Factories on this planet’s second-largest garment exporting nation reopened on Wednesday hoping to swiftly resume operations after manufacturing was disrupted by violent protests that ousted the prime minister.
