“Now-a-days consumers look for cheap garments. Since the Bangladeshi products are cheaper than that of other countries like China, they prefer that,” Ms. Halen Agervi, a manager of the H&M’s showroom in Stockholm told the FE.

Though the flow of customers has recently shrunk due to the financial dip, those who come to the shops are usually preferring cheap garments, she said.

The Swedish H&M (Hennes & Mauritz AB), Europe’s second largest buyer of Bangladeshi garments, imports apparel from different countries including China, Mauritius and Turkey for selling those to more than 1000 H&M retail shops in 34 countries across the globe.

Bangladesh has so far this year supplied some 120 million pieces of knit products worth about $300 million and 50 million pieces of woven worth about $250 million to the H&M, said Iqbal Khan, a senior executive of the H&M Dhaka office.

“Due to financial meltdown our headquarters has asked us to offer less prices to the suppliers. But the volume of orders to Bangladesh will not lessen,” Mr. Khan who was visiting their Stockholm headquarters told the FE.

H&M pays US$2.5 per unit to the Bangladeshi knitwear products and $4.5 per unit for the woven goods on an average.

“The orders from the H&M is increasing day by day even during this global recession,” Amal Poddar, Managing Director of Metro Knitting and Dying Ltd, a major knitwear supplier to the Swedish company told the FE Friday.

As the developed world is facing the financial meltdown, they are preferring Bangladeshi products for its competitive price than products from China and Turkey, he added.

Mr. Poddar said Bangladesh is slowly nudging China as the preferred choice for medium-to-low priced ready-made garments in European markets.

“And recession in the wealthiest countries would hasten that process, as the top retailers would desperately hunt for factories, which can offer bargain prices,” he said.

The H&M have been giving a lot of orders of knit garments especially sweater for acute cold weather in the Scandinavian countries, Mr. Poddar who supplies about 2 million pieces of garments per month to H&M said.

“I don’t think that our supply volume to the European market will shrink. The H&M has recently shown us that it had a target of 150 per cent business growth during 2008-2013. The projection has made us more bullish,” he said.

“Chinese apparels were occupying the H&M retail shops in Stockholm before the global recession. But after the plunge, the consumers are now preferring low-valued apparel. It has made a room for the Bangladeshi products again,” said Nahid Hossain, a Bangladeshi born Swedish citizen.

H&M Dhaka office’s Iqbal Khan said they are bullish about Bangladesh as they see the country’s shipments gain on cheap labour and declining Chinese competitiveness despite its major markets are on the brink of recession.

Amal Poddar said: “Bangladesh is the third largest supplier of H&M at this moment. I think it will be able to occupy first position within 2-3 years as our supply volume to the company is growing every month.”

He said some 32 per cent of Bangladeshi exportable knit products are imported by the Swedish company — H&M.

The US and the EU are the major destinations of Bangladeshi garment exports, accounting for some 90 per cent of the country’s US$10.7 billion garment shipments last year.

source: appareldotcomdotbd, date: dec 25, 2008

As the informal sector requires small investment, it attracts a good number of investors who are employing thousands of people, mostly from under-privileged classes.

The garment leftovers, called jhoot by the people involved in the trade, are virtually turned into useful materials.

Every bits and pieces of waste raw materials starting from cut-pieces of clothes, zippers, buttons, thread, elastic fasteners, used plastic packets, broken cloth hangers, empty bobbins to rejected pants, shirts and t-shirts are sold from the garment factories.

Md Abdur Rashid Sheikh, secretary of Al-Amin Bahumukhi Babosayee Samobai Samiti, a garment waste traders association in Mirpur 10 Jhutpatti, said, “Rags discarded by one are treasure for another. We are helping to relieve the garment industry of a huge burden that was once thrown away in dumpsters.”

Rashid said each garment factory announces an auction for waste raw materials in every alternate week. The best quality waste cloths sells at Tk 35-40 per kg while the price for one kg low quality clothe can be as low as one taka.

Prices also change along with the market price of fabric and other products. Cotton clothes and white clothes cost more as these are widely used to reproduce cotton and yarn.

First stage of recycling starts with sorting, which is usually done by colours, type of fabric and its condition. The usable clothes are bought by small garment factories with one or two machines reproducing clothes with it. Children’s frocks, skirts, shirts, pyjamas, pillow cases are produced with this usable portion of the wastage.

Rashid said these reproduced items are mostly sold in street side stalls all around the city. A large amount goes to Bangabazar, Doza market and New Market extension.

“Because of the jhoot trade the poor segment of the society can buy clothes at a cheaper prices”, said Rashid

The unusable parts and extremely shredded clothes are recycled into waste cotton. Dhaka’s bedding industry is dependent on these shredded clothes. Mattress, pillows, cushions, seat stuffing and padding in cars, public buses and rickshaws are usually done with these recycled clothes and processed cotton.

In the market one kg recycled cotton costs around Tk 20 per kg.

One of the jhoot traders claimed that even bandages are being reproduced with leftover white cotton fabrics.

While buttons, zippers, elastic fastener, hangers and plastic bags are resold to mini garment accessory sellers. These are sold at Tk 40 to Tk 80 per kg.

Buttons, zipper, elastics fasteners are mostly purchased by local tailors, said an accessory seller.

According to Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) there are about 4,500 units of garment factories in Bangladesh.

Around 500 textiles and garments waste processor units are currently under operation in the country and they produce around 500 tonnes of processed waste cotton every day, said sources at Bangladesh Textile and Garments Waste Processors and Exporters Association.

However, there has not been any proper survey on the industry throughout the country.

Largest garment waste processing zones have developed in and around Dhaka surrounding garment industry belts like Mirpur, Tongi, Gazipur, Savar and Narayanganj.

The largest jhootpatti (area for jhoot trade) is located at Mirpur Section 10 where around 400 stores have employed around 10,000 people for collecting and sorting of the jhoot items. Most of the workers are women.

With flourishing of garment sector in early 1980s, some people got interested in the trade. Before that these waste materials were simply thrown away polluting land and waters around the factory zones.

Jhoot traders said, while the trade of garment waste is thriving with the pace of the garment industry, problems related to this informal sector are many.

“Since the sector is still informal and runs with small investment without a strong foundation, harassment by police and local goons for toll collection is regular,” said Md Abul Hashem, auditor of Mirpur Kata Kapor Babosayee Somobai Samity Ltd (Mirpur Garment Wastage Business Owners Association).

“These jhootpattis do not have land to set up suitable establishments. So almost all the stores are located at encroached government lands. Fear of eviction always remains,” said a trader of the area requesting anonymity.

Clashes among local musclemen over control of the trade occur frequently, sometimes leading to even murder, he added.

Md Rabiul Islam, a trader at Mirpur 10 Jhootpatti, however, said, “The negative notion about the jhoot trade is slowly fading away. It would even be quite possible to earn a huge amount of foreign exchange with these wastes. Dear items like carpets and rugs can be produced if a modern mechanism can be developed to process this jhoot.”

source: appareldotcomdotbd, date: dec 26, 2008

He said that the senior senators visiting Bangladesh Tuesday would be ‘welcome guests’. The US Senators are John Mc Cain, Senator Joseph Liberman and Senator Lindsey Graham, said a press release.

“Each of them is a legislator of the highest stature. Their visit is also an acknowledgement of the internationally recognised position of Bangladesh as a peace loving, peaceful and stable State heading for a free, fair and credible elections”, he added.

Iftekhar Chowdhury said that this visit would provide an excellent opportunity to discuss other issues of interest, primary among which was the market access for Bangladeshi manufacturers, particularly RMGs.

He further said, “They will see for themselves that Bangladesh is truly an oasis of stability in a turbulent region. Such deserving trade facilities to Bangladesh will help sustain this stability in our society.”

source: appareldotcomdotbd, date: dec 25, 2008

The call from the Bangladesh Garment Manufactures and Exporters Association (BGMEA) came after the industry has been rocked in recent weeks by a renewed wave of industrial disputes that many believe have been sparked by the rocketing price of essential foods and oil.

Some economists estimate that just the cost of rice accounts for 60 per cent of the salary of a garment worker in Dhaka receiving the minimum wage in the sector.

The BGMEA leaders made their demand in a meeting with the finance adviser at his Secretariat office. BGMEA President Anwar-Ul-Alam Chowdhury (Parvez) led the team in the meeting.

After the meeting, Parvez said the recent labour unrest at the city’s Mirpur area was not prompted by a failure to implement the minimum wage, but rather by the price hike of the essential commodities in the local markets.

This meant workers could hardly afford to buy basic essentials, he said.

Recently the BGMEA claimed that more than 95 percent of garment factories have been paying their workers in line with the minimum wage board at Tk 1662 per month.

“The government should introduce the rationing system such as subsidising the workers’ foodstuffs. The sector is the largest employment generator, as well as the largest export earner,” Parvez said.

Last year garments accounted for 75 percent of the country’s export earnings.

When asked how the rationing system would work, he said this had not yet been fixed as the initiative was still at the primary stage.

However last night the idea received the support of some workers leaders. Nazma Akter, President of Sammilito Garment Workers’ Federation, welcomed the BGMEA move.

“But, the ration should go to the workers’ welfare, not for the welfare of others,” she told The Daily Star.

Thanking the move of the BGMEA, Nazma urged the finance adviser to implement the proposed rationing system for the garment workers as early as possible.

Parvez quoted Azizul Islam as saying that he assured the BGMEA leaders that welfare programmes would be introduced for the workers.

Talking to The Daily Star, economist and a professor of the Department of Economics of the University of Dhaka, MM Akash said the move is good as it could be made successful.

He said a garment worker paid 60 percent of his total salary buying rice.

“The prices of commodities did not remain at the level at which the minimum wage was based. So essential commodities could be supplied to the workers at a cheaper price,” he said.

During the discussion meeting with the finance adviser the BGMEA also demanded a reduction in bank interest rates and the rehabilitation of the sick garment industries.

Parvez said at present, the local garment factory owners can hardly make a profit after paying 17 percent bank interest rate whereas in the competing countries including India and China the bank interest rates range between 3 and 4 percent.

source: appareldotcomdotbd

Manufacturing ready-made garments, an industry largely extinct in the developed world, is the economic engine of Bangladesh, providing about 80 percent of its hard currency. In the past three decades the made-in-Bangladesh tag has become ubiquitous in closets from London to Los Angeles.

Focusing on the lower and middle end - with some famous designer names also in the rack - has meant Bangladesh has withstood changing global fashions.

But now the worry is more about credit lines than hemlines.

At the factories of the Babylon Group, where nearly 10,000 workers churn out everything from T-shirts to formal wear, there is growing concern, however, about the ramifications of worried Western consumers foregoing non-essential purchases in 2009.

But company director Abidur Rahman is optimistic his racks of outbound garments can stay full even if his main competitors in China, Vietnam and the African continent see a thinning of the ranks.

“We don’t expect, all of a sudden, the business, will go away from Bangladesh because of the long experience and very good skill. We are professional if you compare [us] with others,” he said.

Some Bangladeshi manufacturers are reporting an increase in orders as factories shut down elsewhere, such as China, unable to compete with Bangladesh’s combination of cheap labor and reliability.

The motivation to stay competitive is evident among those operating the rows and rows of sewing machines on Babylon’s factory floor in Dhaka.

Zahanara Begum, who has been at this for 15 years, makes about $50 a month. She says 2008 was good but she is apprehensive about the new year.

Begum predicts confidently that if she and her colleagues can maintain their quality of work and productivity they can stay competitive in the tougher global economic environment.

At the head office of the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association, there is apprehension the industry could be undercut by a domestic, not foreign, factor.

Association vice president Shahidul Islam implores the government to cut interest rates as, at present, banks are charging borrowers around 15 percent for commercial loans.

“This recession the industry cannot face. They should take their decision on this. Otherwise industry cannot face these things. And if industry cannot face this decision [of having an interest rate cut] our whole Bangladeshi economy will be in a problem,” he said.

At stake are the livelihoods of 2.5 million workers and more than $10 billion of annual income for their bosses.

source: voanews.com

Exports of trousers and sweaters, two major items from Bangladesh, will boost the export volume in the US market, said Anwar-Ul-Alam Chowdhury Parvez, president of Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA).

Parvez said although Export Promotion Bureau (EPB) is yet to publish its monthly export figure for October, the trend shows that the export of trousers and sweater will be higher this month compared to the previous months’.

“The export of apparel items in November will be better than the same period of the last fiscal year,” Parvez said, adding that in December the export of such items may be slowed down due to sluggish production.

But after January, growth of apparel export will get momentum, as the factories are now busy with making products to be shipped for the next season (summer), he said.

“Still I believe export of local RMG products will not be hampered by the global financial recession. But if the crisis prolongs, export may be affected to some extent,” Parvez said.

According to statistics from the BGMEA and USITC (United States International Trade Commission), apparel exports to USA from Bangladesh increased by 28.72 percent in the first quarter of the current fiscal year, whereas the export of such item posted an 8.21 percent negative growth in August, and in July the growth was 24.93 percent.

In September 2007 export of apparel items to USA registered a 16.44 percent negative growth, while in August the growth was 15.58 percent and in July it was 1.43 percent, the BGMEA statistics said.

The BGMEA data said in the first quarter (July-September) of the current fiscal year a total of $774.25 million worth trousers were exported from Bangladesh. The figure was $2.512 billion in the last fiscal year.

In the first quarter of the current fiscal year sweaters worth $741.87 million were exported, which was $1.474 billion in FY 2007-08.

Parvez said in the first quarter of the current fiscal year shirts worth $305.18 million were exported from Bangladesh. The amount was $918.6 million in FY2007-08.

In July-September of this fiscal year, T-shirts worth $689.6 million were exported, while the figure was $2.765 billion last fiscal year.

Jackets worth $286.46 million were exported in the first three months of the current fiscal year, while the amount was $1.181 billion in FY2007-08, the BGMEA data said.

In the first quarter of the current fiscal year, other apparel items worth $559.00 million were exported against $1.850 billion of last fiscal year.

Parvez said in 2008-09 exports of trousers and sweaters will increase more than expected, as the demand for low-end items did not drop in major markets and for prolonged winter in the western world.

MA Mazed, deputy managing director of the IRIS Group, one of the leading sweater exporters, said the importers place orders but they want to pay comparatively low price.

“The flow of foreign orders is good but the price offered is low,” Mazed said.

Source: apparel dot com dot bd

According to statistics of the Board of Investment (BoI), it has received 1,217 investment proposals from across all sectors, out of which 953 proposals were from the textile and garment industry alone.

Again from amongst these, 643 are in textile and apparel units with investment proposals worth Taka 82,120 million, 177 are related to dyes and chemicals amounting to Taka 15,850 million and the rest 133 proposals aggregating to Taka 29,930 million are meant for investment in the service part of the sector.

Industry experts consider the proposals of investments in the dyes and chemicals and service sub-sectors as, investments in backward and forward integration projects respectively.

The investments in the backward integration projects have been well taken by association bodies and industry experts alike. They say that these investments will reduce the import dependency on these products and also reduce valuable foreign outgo.

Source: fibre2fashion dot com

More international buyers are coming to Bangladesh despite the global financial recession as they think China, one of the major competitors of Bangladesh, is no more viable for them due to higher prices of apparel items.

“Chinese are no more interested in labour intensive industries like textile and ready-made garment (RMG) sector because of the currency appreciation against the dollar and higher wages of workers,” said Rasheduzzaman, a local buyer in Dhaka.

Recently, almost all renowned international retails stores, including Wal-Mart, JC Penny, Marks and Spencer, H and M, Tesco, GAP, Li and Fung, Puma and G-Star, have enhanced their volume of purchase from Bangladesh, said a supplier of the RMG products.

The recent change in the purchase pattern is because Bangladesh is a vital destination for international buyers of readymade garments (RMG) items in the wake of less cost-effectiveness of Chinese apparels.

A strong presence of foreign retail buyers of apparel items from Bangladesh has outshone the growth of local buying houses, as they now focus more on direct purchase from manufacturers, according to sector people.

“Bangladesh is receiving a huge number of orders from international buyers as they have been shifting their orders from China in the age of financial recession,” said KI Hossain, owner of Total Apparel, a local buying house.

Up to May, at least 200 new local buying houses have opened in Bangladesh, while the number of such new buying houses was 150 in 2007, said Hossain, also the vice-president of Bangladesh Garment Buying Houses Association (BGBA).

A buying house, a hub for sellers comprising of leading manufacturers, exporters and suppliers, displays their latest and trendiest collection of apparels to a huge audience round the year.

Buyers from across the world can meet sellers at this permanent showroom and source their products as per their exact specifications.

Meanwhile, some international buyers like Sweden based IKEA, a global giant in home textile business, has already opened its liaison office in Dhaka to make any business deal directly with manufacturers.

At the recent inaugural function, the IKEA’s local representatives said it would raise its purchases from Bangladesh, mainly home textiles, to 300 million euros from 100 million euros in the next few years.

Talking to The Daily Star, Shahadat Hossain Kiron, chairman of Dekko Group, said although there is no exact statistics of the orders Bangladesh now receive, which are being shifted from China, the country has turned out to be a good destination for outsourcing apparel items.

Source: The Daily Star

” Bangladesh army was with you and they will protect the industry,” Moeen said adding: vested quarter was seen in the past to destroy it.

“None will be allowed to spoil it, we will protect the industry,” he reaffirmed.General Moeen was addressing as the chief guest the concluding session of the three-day long BATEXPO-2008 held at a city hotel.
Stefan Frowein, ambassador, head of the delegation of European Commission in Bangladesh , and US Ambassador in Bangladesh James F Moriarty joined the concluding programme as the special guests.
Moeen also said the garment manufacturers should feel that the workers are the indispensable partners of the RMG sector.

“Workers are your partners and there will be no outsider if you feel for them,” Moeen added.
He also said the manufacturers, the government and the workers will have to work shoulder-to-shoulder for improvement of the sector adding that the sector which employed mostly women had brought a social change in the country.
Moeen expressed the hope that the garment sector which earned US$ 10.7 billion in the last fiscal might earn at least US$ 15 billion within the next few years adding: “We will help achieve the goal.”

Turning to the ongoing global recession, the Chief of Army Staff said Bangladesh is feeling the pulse of the recession.

Urging local apparel manufacturers to be prepared for the recession, he said proper planning will help overcome the crisis.

Moeen stressed the need for sustainable growth saying entrepreneurs, workers and the government must have a common vision and mission to attain the goal.

Recalling the deplorable situation at Chittagong port before 1/11, he said the port has now become an efficient port.
“The ships’ stay at the port was over 13 days but now it has come down to 2.93 days. This helped increase the port’s efficiency by 40 per cent and reduced the cost by 30 per cent,” he added. Speaking as a special guest Jams F Moriarty said Bangladesh garments need diversification to overcome the present crisis.
“We don’t know how long the crisis will remain. I don’t know how Bangladesh will be affected but diversification of RMG might help the country overcome the situation,” he added.
Stefan Frowein said the EU move for new rules of origin will not affect the LDCs adding the changes will be helpful for their future growth.

Addressing the session, BGMEA president Anwar-ul-Alam Chowdhury said it is imperative that Bangladesh should have 5, 10 and 15-year master plans for the sector.

He said for the first time Bangladesh passed 667 days without hartal adding: “the future government and the opposition leadership should make commitment in this respect and vandalism in the name of protest cannot be acceptable.”

Turning to the global recession the BGMEA chief said there is need for public-private partnership to face the global challenge.

Source: The financial Express

Held at Green Plaza of Rajshahi Nagar Bhaban, the fair, first of its kind in the country, will showcase various silk products at 20 stalls.

Source: The Daily Star