Ensuring fair prices for RMG

The just-concluded three-day 'Dhaka Apparel Summit-2014' has brought into sharp focus the fact that the readymade garment industry (RMG) in Bangladesh no longer stands where it once was even a couple of years ago. It has now embarked on a smooth journey to fetch an estimated US$50 billion from garment exports in 2021. Given the hectic reforms taking place in the area of workplace safety and labour standard, it will not surely be difficult to attain the 2021 target. Bangladesh is currently meeting only 5 per cent of the world's apparel demand at a time when the total global demand is about US$ 450 billion, which will hit $ 650 billion by 2021. Bangladesh needs only 8 per cent share of the total to reach the target.

The summit has gone a long way in repairing the damage caused by industrial tragedies like the Rana Plaza collapse and the Tazreen Fashions fire. The vast gathering at the summit of western retailers, trade body leaders, policymakers and scholars, especially from the US and the EU, the two main export destinations of Bangladeshi garments, also showed keen interest in the  revolutionary reforms being carried out in the RMG factories to meet global issues of compliance and labour standards.

Thanks to path-breaking initiative of a true patriot Nurul Quader Khan and tireless efforts of young and innovative entrepreneurs, the US$24 billion RMG industry today is implementing an international roadmap and is firm to clear the decks to emerge as the number one exporter globally. The RMG manufacturers lost no time in responding positively to the ethical demands of global consumers. The government and the BGMEA as well as local and international organisations are tirelessly working to ensure setting up of safe, sustainable and compliant factories in a coordinated manner. The country too wants security of the workers and safe production system in mills and factories. Inspectors have been recruited for the garment sector and they have so far inspected 2,193 factories under the Accord, Alliance and National Action Plan to keep garment industries safe and secure. Happily, they have found most of the mills and factories running in trouble-free manner. The government has also increased the wages of the workers by 220 percent to Tk 5,300 from Tk 1,662 in five years. The new wage rates are almost similar to those of competing countries. The onus now lies on the buyers including those belonging to the Alliance and the Accord to give ethically fair prices for cloths 'made in Bangladesh' because reforms prove costly.

As leading experts said, the RMG owners will have to further improve quality and standard of their products to sustain in the world's competitive markets. The BGMEA needs to take and implement short, medium and long-term plans to increase share of the country's RMG exports in the world market. Works on reforms are required to progress fast in the factories not yet covered to improve the safety system. At the same time, there is no alternative to research and development for making advancement to make any industry sustainable. The BGMEA University of Fashion and Technology has been set up. Happily, a significant initiative has been taken by the BGMEA in collaboration with ILO to set up the Centre of Excellence for Bangladesh Apparel Industry. It is hoped that the centre could be an effective organization in improving strategic management and quality of the industries through continued research and training.

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