Production at manufacturing industries badly affected

Disruption in the supply of raw materials due to the recent countrywide shutdowns has badly affected production at most of the country's manufacturing units, industry insiders said.
They said the owners could not transport the imported raw materials, which had been stuck up at Chittagong Sea Port for the last 15 days, to their manufacturing units because of the frequent spells of general strikes, resulting in production disruption.
"Such shutdowns have come as a big blow to my business as I cannot maintain smooth production for not having enough raw materials," Anwar-Ul-Alam Chowdhury, Managing Director of Evince Group, told the FE.
He said production at his factories has come down by around 80 per cent in recent weeks because of inadequate raw materials. "The factories manufacturing garment products could be shut down any time," he said.
Mr Chowdhury, also a former president of Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA), said he had imported raw materials like fabric and other goods that are now waiting at the sea port for transportation to Dhaka.
He said a truck carrying exportable items of his factories was torched at Sitakundo in Chittagong recently by pro-strike activists. "So no transport company wants to transport my goods," he added.
Evince Group is one of the country's top apparel conglomerates and it employs around 3,000 workers at its five industrial units.
Harunur Rashid, Managing Director of Globe Pharmaceuticals Ltd, told the FE that they are facing an acute shortage of raw materials in their units which is hampering production.
He said almost 98 per cent production of the country's pharmaceutical industry depends on exported raw materials.
He said the medicine companies are struggling to manufacture many important drugs because of the shortage of raw materials.
Meanwhile Jahangir Alamin, President of Bangladesh Textile Mills Association (BTMA), told the FE that the primary textile sector has been seriously affected by hartals.
The sector, which includes spinning, weaving, printing, dyeing and finishing, plays a vital role as a backward linkage industry of woven and knitwear garments.
Mr Alamin, also Managing Director of Fuad Spinning Mills Ltd, said all the textile mills are facing disturbance due to hartals; so their production has fallen significantly in recent times.
Rizvi Ul Kabir, Chief Operating Officer of Shinepukur Ceramics, told the FE that now the ceramic sector is passing a very hard time.
He said many of their imported raw materials are now waiting at the port for transportation to their factories.
Mr Kabir said in one hand they are facing problem with the imported raw materials on the other the local suppliers are also being disturbed due to hartals.