Bangladesh Garment Trade Brief on Cotton as Floods Worsen Protest Backlog

Garment factories in Bangladesh, one of many world’s greatest 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 world cotton importer as a result of dimension of its textile and garment trade, however the devastating floods imply few vehicles and trains have been in a position to convey provides to factories from Chittagong port over the past week, trade officers and analysts stated.

The disruption, on prime of the unrest and protests that led to manufacturing unit closures earlier this month, have induced garment manufacturing to fall by 50 p.c, stated Mohammad Hatem, president of the Bangladesh Knitwear Producers and Exporters Affiliation.

“The trade is now below immense strain to satisfy deadlines, and with out a swift decision, the availability chain may deteriorate even additional,” Hatem stated.

Bangladesh was ranked because the third-largest exporter of clothes on the planet final 12 months, after China and the European Union, in keeping with the World Commerce Group, exporting $38.4 billion price 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 worth of 1 single shirt is $5, there was $250,000 of manufacturing loss,” stated Huq, a former president of the Bangladesh Garment Producers and Exporters Affiliation (BGMEA).

She stated some garment crops had been slowing resuming manufacturing, however estimated that full restoration “can be at the very least six months away”, warning that Bangladeshi producers may lose 10 percent-15 p.c of enterprise to different nations.

Bangladesh’s readymade clothes trade, which provides lots of the world’s best-known trend manufacturers, accounts for greater than 80 p.c of the nation’s complete export earnings.

Patrons are adopting a cautious method and will probably delay new orders, stated Shahidullah Azim, a director of the BGMEA trade group.

“The longer this uncertainty persists, the more difficult it turns into for us to keep up the momentum we’ve constructed,” he informed Reuters.

The Bangladesh Meteorological Division stated flood situations may persist if the monsoon rains continued, as water ranges had been receding very slowly.

Some cotton shipments may get diverted to India, Pakistan and Vietnam, commodity analysts stated.

“We’re already listening to and seeing some cotton for immediate supply needed by Pakistan and Vietnam,” stated Louis Barbera, accomplice and analyst at VLM Commodities primarily based in New Jersey.

New orders shifted from Bangladesh is also accommodated in southern India, stated Atul Ganatra, president of the Cotton Affiliation of India.

Even earlier than the floods and political unrest, the Bangladeshi garment trade was grappling with energy shortages that stay an issue, stated Fazlee Shamim Ehsan, vice chairman on the nation’s knitwear producers and exporters affiliation.

“Power shortages proceed to hamper our operations,” he stated.

By Anmol Choubey and Swati Verma, Ruma Paul in Dhaka and Krishn Kaushiki; Enhancing by Naveen Thukral and Helen Popper

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