The ready-made garment (RMG) industry in Chittagong is seeing a sharp rise in orders as consumers look for more reliable production choices due to the current worker turmoil in Dhaka.
Knitwear company Deluxe Fashions Ltd., which is a part of the Clifton Group, reported a 20 per cent increase in orders in October, reaching US $ 2.8 million as opposed to US $ 2.4 million in the same month the previous year.
The steady climate in Chattogram is responsible for the increase in orders, according to Mohiuddin Chowdhury, CEO of Clifton Group and a former director of the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA).
Industry leaders said similar increases in orders are also being seen by other key garment businesses in Chattogram, including KDS Group, Four H Group, Pacific Group, and Asian Group. Orders are coming in steadily now, even for medium and smaller enterprises that were earlier worried about surviving economic downturns.
Operations in Dhaka’s apparel hubs, Ashulia, Savar, and Gazipur, have been made more difficult by unrest. In sharp contrast, all 446 of Chattogram’s clothing factories are operating at full capacity, and there have been no reports of disturbances.
Orders have noticeably increased as a result of Dhaka factory owners subcontracting work to Chattogram’s plants to guarantee on-time supplies. “There is more activity here because many companies in Dhaka are closing because of turmoil, and their owners are subcontracting to Chattogram factories with the consent of purchasers,” said Belayet Hossain, CEO of Asian Group and a former director of the BGMEA.
Although the recent spike in orders offers a chance, industry executives warn that Chattogram manufacturers need to concentrate on enhancing working conditions to keep buyers interested. Hossain underlined that as buyers often prefer dependable operations, stricter compliance standards will be essential to maintaining this momentum.
In the first four months of the current fiscal year, Chattogram’s garment exports totalled US $ 543 million, according to BGMEA data. July saw a 7.94 per cent increase in exports to US $ 106 million, August saw a 55.98 per cent increase to US $ 166 million, and September saw a 20 per cent decline to US $ 132 million as a result of flooding. However, exports reached US $ 137 million in October, a 4.13 percent increase.
About 9–10 per cent of the RMG sector’s overall export revenue now comes from garment manufacturers in the Chattogram Export Processing Zone, BGMEA, and the Bangladesh Knitwear Manufacturers and Exporters Association. This is a decrease from 12–15 per cent ten years ago. Currently, the sector employs more than 700,000 people in the area.
