Coronavirus did not kill Bangladesh’s RMG industry, but definitely has put the country’s entire lifeline into serious trouble!
Europe and USA are the major importers of Bangladesh’s apparels and cancellation of orders lately by both EU and the US has left the life and economy of the country shattered.
As the buyers are also coping with Coronavirus crisis, huge orders worth more than US $ 2.0 billion have already been cancelled, with many seeking to withhold production against their orders.
In such circumstances, closing down a factory is not a difficult job. Question is will these furloughed labourers get their daily wages throughout the entire lockdown period?
Bangladesh’s woven garment factories have found a way out to survive!
As the world shudders with skyrocketing demand for personal protective gears for doctors, health workers and others, some local factories in Bangladesh have already started producing these products.
And interestingly, US is willing to buy PPE from Bangladesh. Other countries too have made similar requests to Bangladesh government recently. This is also an indication that the demand for protective gears will be even bigger in the near future.
While the workers are efficient enough to inherit the needed skills, concern here is the availability of materials required to make PPE. Bangladesh hopefully has an answer to that.
