The last week of nationwide violence has taken four crucial days out of the apparel and textile industries’ peak production season, but the mill owners have managed to keep their factories open on Friday in an attempt to meet the strict deadline set by their foreign retailers.
The producers had a significant issue last week when the internet went down because they neglected to send the inspection reports to their buyers online, which is something they are required to do on a regular basis, in the midst of the perpetually inadequate gas supply and power outages.
Since July, August, and September are the busiest months for shipping items to customers in the West, where they will be sold during the next Christmas season, which is the largest retail sales season in the West, local garment makers are working extremely hard to make up for their losses.
Many owners are also running their factories for additional hours, using overtime to adhere to the strict lead time to avoid going for expensive air shipments, giving big discounts or canceling work orders from buyers.
Foreign merchants’ trust in Bangladesh was severely damaged by the violence that centered around the quota reform campaign. As a result, many local garment suppliers have experienced a 30–40 per cent decrease in work orders compared to normal because buyers are enforcing a go-slow policy.
The exporters claimed that as a result, the foreign stores and brands did not place new work orders or confirm the price level for the goods intended for the upcoming spring and summer, as they were scheduled to do last week.
“I have been running my unit even on Friday as I have counted a huge loss because of the four-day factory shutdowns following the violence,” said a garment exporter asking not to be named.
However, the exporter could not run the factory on Friday in full swing because of long power cuts.
“I am worried about how I will pay the workers’ July salary as I made a loss this month and I failed to confirm goods’ prices due to the internet disruption,” the exporter said.
