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A garment maker's plight

Refayet Ullah Mirdha
**KEY POINTS
BGMEA has called an extraordinary general meeting on February 11
Retailers are inquiring about the political situation every day
Buyers are slashing orders in Bangladesh, but placing the rest of the orders in Vietnam, Indonesia, India, Myanmar, China and Pakistan Banking sector is not interested to provide funds to garment makers, BGMEA says***
Afroz Al Mamun, owner of a leading garment group, said his factories had bagged work orders worth $20 million during January-March last year.
So far this year, he received orders of $8.5 million, far below his expectations.
International retailers who source clothes from his company are slashing orders as they fear Mamun will not be able to deliver in time as the ongoing blockade disrupted the supply chain.
Mamun shared the figures of the losses he incurred so far with Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association, the apparel makers' platform. He insisted his company should not be named in the media.
A total of 23 factories have already lost $19.02 million between January 14 and
February 1, according to an assessment by the BGMEA.
Mamun is running his three factories below capacity. Also, retailers are cutting trips to his factories due to political violence.
"A retailer was supposed to visit my factory to place an order of three lakh pieces of sweaters, but the buyer cancelled the trip," Mamun said.
"On January 22,1 travelled to Bangkok to meet the buyer who finally placed orders for one lakh pieces of sweaters, instead of three lakh pieces," he said.
Mamun said, if the situation does not improve, he will fail to meet his export target of $60 million for this year.
Although production declined significantly, he will have to pay wages to his 6,000 workers each month.
Mamun is not alone, almost all the 4,000 active garment factories are bearing the brunt of the current political impasse.
Since January 14, the BGMEA has been assessing the losses its members have faced due to the political unrest. So far, 23 factories have responded to the platform's request for quotations of losses incurred for the political turmoil, ongoing since January 6.
Losses are mounting by the day as factory owners have to deal with work order cancellations, discounts for shipment delays, expensive air shipment and transport fares, and vandalism.
Garment makers who account for 80 percent of the country's total exports were optimistic about a target to export apparel items worth $50 billion by 2021. But now they say it will be hard to reach the target if political unrest is so rampant.
"The amount of losses will be huge if all the factories are taken into consideration," BGMEA President Atiqul Islam said, adding that banks are also not interested to provide funds to garment makers.
"The retailers are inquiring about the situation every day. We are facing multifaceted problems due to the unrest," Islam said.
The retailers are slashing orders in Bangladesh, but placing the rest of the orders in Vietnam, Indonesia, India, Myanmar, China and Pakistan, he said.
Representatives of 65 international retailers and brands like Walmart, Gap, JC Penney, C&A, Tesco, G-Star, H&M, Target, Inditex and Carrefour have also demanded an immediate solution to the current crisis and an uninterrupted supply chain between Dhaka and Chittagong.
The retailers expressed their concern at the regular buyers' meetingatthe capital's Westin Hotel on February 2.
Shahidullah Azim, BGMEA vice-president, said they have called an extraordinary general meeting on February 11 to listen from the affected factory owners.
Bangladesh's garment exports to the US, the single largest export destination for the country, declined 3.17 percent year-on-year to $4.64 billion during January-November last year, due to a slowdown in work orders.
Bangladesh was the sixth largest sourcing country for the US during the period though Bangladesh's position was third even a few months ago, according to the US Department of Commerce.
While Bangladesh has been losing its market share to the US, Vietnam's share increased by 13.98 percent during the same period. Similarly, garment exports from Cambodia, India, Indonesia and Mexico have been increasing to the US market