Due to the corona crisis, the supply of raw materials into Bangladesh from China has slowed down. From November to February, the offspring of Bangladesh’s sweater exporters are in a dilemma and generally, Bangladesh’s exporters export below 50% of their capacity installed. Speaking of Mostafa Rubel, Managing Director of the Dragon Company, a leading sweater exporter, the issue of coronavirus began impacting Bangladesh’s sweater segment since nearly 80% of human-made sweater yarn is mainly imported from China. However, peak seasons starting in March and ending in October change this pattern completely as our factories operate 100% with several plants with two or three shifts or even sub-contractors from permitted and approved plants during this time. But just as they entered the peak season by making enormous orders until June and July, the virus stopped unexpectedly in the world where its clothing is exported, Rubel said.
As the worldwide shutdown is taking place, some customers urge some exporters to retain the products and some even cancel previous orders. Bangladesh received 4.25 billion$ of sweater exports, which is 15.82% higher than the 3.67 billion$ of FY18, according to data from the Export Promotion Bureau (EPB) in the fiscal year 2018-19.
Today, sweater companies and commercial analysts have taken the view that technological progress has made a major contribution to growing export earnings, and that prolonged winter speeds up growth. Almost all sweater plants have automated machines built according to the BKMEA chief. For the sweater industry to recover from this impending crisis, the government needs to urgently incubate itself through favorable policies for at least the next six months.
