Move on to divert Western buyers from Bangladesh

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FE Team | Published: May 18, 2013 00:00:00 | Updated: February 01, 2018 00:00:00

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Nizam Ahmed Several ready-made garment (RMG) producing countries including Vietnam, Cambodia and Indonesia are trying to lure western apparel buyers away from Bangladesh. The latest development came as Bangladesh is now struggling to overcome a severe jolt caused by a building collapse that killed 1,127 workers and maimed many at Savar recently, industry sources said. If the western buyers choose other countries as sources for their merchandise, it is likely to extend a severe blow to Bangladesh, the second largest RMG exporter of the world after China, traders said. However leaders of the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) are confident to overcome the shock that shook the entire US$20 billion apparel industry of the country. The collapse of Rana Plaza on April 24 came only five months after the fire incident at Tazreen Fashion at Ashulia, where some 130 people workers were killed in late November last year. Besides industrial mishaps, deadly political violence also raged in the country from early this calendar year. So far the country experienced more than 35 national or regional strikes over past five months. Observers believe that political violence has also raised a safety concern among the overseas buyers, most of whom are now keen to change Bangladesh as source country for their merchandise. Violence resorted to by supporters and activists of an Islamist political party and a radical group over the past month also caused a serous concern among the buyers, according to the leaders of BGMEA. "We understand that overseas buyers are worried over the recent repeated industrial mishaps and deadly political violence, but the things have started to settle down, and we are putting our efforts to introduce adequate safety measure in factories," BGMEA Vice President Md Nasiruddin Ahmed Chowdhury told the FE. Buyers will not go away as claimed in certain media reports. May be they suspend buying for the time being or go slow to give Bangladesh garment producers time for correction, he added. Bangladesh is in such a position that buyers will think twice to leave it as sourcing country, other garment producers said. "Quality of our products and the expertise in the industry is so high and excellent that none in the world except China can match us," said Syed Nurul Islam, Bangladesh-Malaysia Chamber of Commerce and Industry. "Had we been given required assistance from the government and other concessions by the opposition like free movement of products for shipping and raw materials to factories for production during strikes, we could have more excellent products for global buyers," Mr Islam, who has also a garment unit in his group of companies, said. Shortage of utilities including gas and electricity also obstructs Bangladeshi garment producers to produce more excellent products, he added. However, according to international trade sources, like Bangladesh, Vietnam, Indonesia, Cambodia and Pakistan have developed expertise to make high quality RMG products including shirts, blouses, jackets and trousers and acquired efficiency to make and supply tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousand pieces to global retailers within weeks of receiving orders. As the prices of RMG products made in China are going up due to higher labour costs, other garment producing countries are now offering lucrative offers with an aim to divert the global brands from Bangladesh. Meanwhile, dozens of developing, least developed and impoverished countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America have started promoting their own RMG sectors to feed the western world, industry sources said. They are trying to label their products correctly so that those can be shipped to distribution centres of the western retailers. If successful, these countries are likely to become competitors for Bangladesh. But Bangladesh garment manufacturers and exporters still claim that they are much ahead of apparel producers of those countries. They say India is not organised for large-scale, timely production, while Africa does not have enough skilled workers for high-volume labeling and shipping, and Latin America does not have enough sewing machine workers. If RMG sectors develop properly in those countries with formidable numbers of skilled workers who could oversee quality control as well as labeling and shipping of garments, they would have become more competitive and open new sources for RMG products for the western buyers, trade monitors said