RMG industry crisis: How to solve it?

The garment industry is a rising one in the country. About 3.5 million workers are engaged in this sector. Most of them are women. The importance of this sector in the national economy is immense. Since this sector is conducted by Global Supply Chain, any incident in this sector becomes a much-talked-about topic nationally and internationally.Conscious people firmly believe that if effective and meaningful steps are taken, the production and marketing in this sector will be double and 3.0 million more workers can be engaged in this sector. The sector has got 25 per cent more orders in the last three months within the existing market.

Besides, there has arisen a possibility of exporting ready-made garments to Japan, India, China, South Africa, Brazil and some other countries of the world.

Different organisations working for the protection of human rights and labour rights of the world always intensively observe this sector due to the volume of our exported goods and the ability of remaining in the competition in the world. It is not possible to conceal anything in this world of the free flow of information. So any incident in the export-oriented garment industry becomes the lead news of the national and international media. It is the demand of time to maintain and enhance the image of the industry in the global market. The announcement of the minimum wages for the RMG employees within the shortest possible time and the rescue operations taken up by the government after the fire incident in Ha-Meem Group are undoubtedly praiseworthy.

There has been a gap between the expectations and gains of the workers since the inception of the industry in the world. Dialogue and compromise are the way of maintaining stability and a healthy industrial relation is the only way to remove the gap.

We firmly believe in a constructive, responsible, creative, uncompromising workers’ movement not in violence and anarchy. We are uncompromising in the question of realising the demands of the workers. We are committed to play the role of a sleepless guard to protect the national industries. The globally recognized systematic and legal way of creating the environment of the dialogue and compromise is to ensure right to organize and right to bargain collectively ie to implement effectively and meaningfully the articles 87 and 98 of ILO convention and the existing labour laws of the country.

Some recent incidents have damaged the image of this sector nationally and internationally. The killing of 21 workers in the fire incident in Garib & Garib factory, killing of 4 workers by shooting during the worker unrest in Chittagong EPZ and killing of 28 workers in the fire incident in Ha-Meem Group garment factory in Ashulia of Savar were undesirable, painful and heart-rending. Some organizations around the world expressed mixed reaction over these incidents.

On behalf of the garment workers’ federation, we would like to clearly give a strong message to the government and owners that we want safe workplace not any death trap. We demand judicial inquiry of the fire incident in Ha-Meem Group. We strongly demand to publish the list of how many workers died and were injured. There is no workers’ representative in the inquiry committee formed by the government. So there is a scope for the inquiry not being unbiased and neutral. We also demand revelation of the report of the inquiry of Garib & Garib incident.

According to the information received from various sources, the factory of Ha-Meem Group is of international standard from architectural point of view and the fire-extinguishing equipment and infrastructure is modern. What the fire fighters did during the incident is also a matter of concern. The matter of the main gate being locked during the incident needs to be investigated.

The demands are:

1. The right of forming trade union by workers in accordance with the existing labour laws and in line with ILO convention has to be ensured.

2. Constructing factories according to the Building Code and Factory Act must be made mandatory.

3. All tin-shed roofs of the factories must be removed.

4. The stairs of the factories must be widened and heaping goods on the stairs must be banned.

5. Tk 0.5 million (5.0 lakh) is to be paid to a dead worker’s family and proper treatment should be arranged for the injured workers. Full salaries of the injured workers must be paid until they join after recovery.

6. Effective fire-extinguishing measures need to be arranged in every factory and the gates of the factories must be kept open during the working hours.

7. The newly-announced wage structure must be implemented and corrected in case of any inconsistency.

Urges to the buyers:

The federation urges the buyers, brands and retailers that they would provide financial assistance to the dead and injured workers in accordance with the rules of Loss of Earnings showing due respect to CSR. In this case, the example of Voluntary Relief Fund of Spectrum Sweater Factory can be followed.

Urges to the international trade union and human rights organizations:

Paying respect to the concerns of international trade unions, human rights organizations and labour rights organizations we would like to say that they should press the buyers and retailers to raise the purchase price so that the owners of the industries of our county can get the increased price and be able to give the workers due wages. Our earnest request to them is to conduct campaign for the duty-free access of our goods to the USA. Thus it will be possible to conduct the activities jointly. If the campaign is conducted unilaterally and based on biased information, the development of the industry will be hampered and the working class, especially female workers, will be greatly affected which is not desirable and expected from a conscious human rights activist.


Source: thefinancialexpress-bd.com

RMG sector earning may reach $30-35b in 4-5 yrs

The earning from garment sector may be taken up to US$ 30-35 billion in the next 4-5 years by ensuring power, infrastructure and port facilities, and maintaining law and order situation, said FBCCI President A K Azad.The Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FBCCI) chief said the local RMG industry’s growth was 40 per cent last year, and it will start increasing significantly within a short time. For this the government has to ensure logistic supports for the sector.

He said these at the inaugural ceremony of International Apparel Machinery, Fabrics and Accessories Tradeshow of Bangladesh at Bangabandhu International Conference Centre in the city Wednesday.

The three-day fair was jointly organised by Zakaria Trade and Fair International and ASK Trade and Exhibitions Pvt Ltd. It will continue from January 12 to 15, and as many as 150 companies from 24 countries will display their products at the 10th edition of Garmentech Bangladesh and IFA Sourcing Fair.

Industries Minister Dilip Barua was present as the chief guest of the programme.

Source: thefinancialexpress-bd.com

Export of RMG products expanding to more overseas destinations

Exports of Bangladesh’s readymade garment (RMG) products are gradually expanding to China, Japan and Latin American countries in recent days. So far, the US and the EU were the main buyers of local apparel items. RMG manufacturers tried hard to explore more export destinations with diversification of their products and were able to find some prospective markets in Asia and Latin America.

China, the world’s largest apparel supplier, has become a major export destination for Bangladesh as Chinese manufacturers are now reluctant to produce basic RMG items. The Chinese manufacturers have recently shifted from basic readymade garment (RMG) items to high-end apparels. A significant number of garment factories that made basic RMG products earlier faced closure in China recently. As such, Bangladesh and other competing countries are now exporting RMG products to China.

According to Export Promotion Bureau (EPB), Bangladesh exported knitwear products to China worth $3.071 million in fiscal 2007-08 against $0.76 million in the previous fiscal year, posting a staggering 400 percent growth. In fiscal 2007-08 the country exported woven garments to China worth $6.691 million against $6.323 million in fiscal 2006-07. The total export to China from Bangladesh amounted to $106.946 million against the import of around $3.0 billion in fiscal 2007-08.

In 2007, Bangladesh exported cotton T-shirts, singlets and other vests worth $0.79 million against $0.57 million in 2006. China imported such kind of apparel items worth $976.890 million in 2007 and $926.330 million in 2006 from the rest of the world. It clearly shows that China itself imports apparel items of a significant amount. Aggressive marketing drive by Bangladesh can grab a chunk of such import of China, experts say.

Currently Bangladesh enjoys duty concession on exports of 757 products to Chinese market under Asia Pacific Trade Agreement. Of the 757 products, 22 knitwear items and almost the same amount of woven items are included in the concession category. As a result, the export of knitwear and woven products is getting a steady rise to China.

Bangladeshi exporters are also looking to the Japanese market as the hottest new export destination. Apparel exports to Japan started to pick up after the Japanese government announced the China+1 strategy in 2008. Japan is eager to reduce its dependence on China, the largest supplier of apparel items globally. The China+1 policy promote shifting production from China to other nations, such as Bangladesh. Being a member of the least developed countries’ group, Bangladesh has duty-free access to Japan for woven product (under the generalised system of preferences, or GSP). Knitwear faces a duty of 17 percent, as Japan clings to its aging knitwear industry.

The Japanese government has recently invited the Bangladesh Knitwear Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BKMEA) leaders to discuss about duty-free access for knitwear. Earlier, the association leaders had asked Japan to relax rules-of-origin for knitwear items. If Japan allows duty-free knitwear, it will be a great opportunity for Bangladesh. In fact, Dhaka’s decision last year inspired exporters with a cash incentive of 5.0 percent of each apparel shipped to Japan. Manufacturers need separate production lines for the Japanese customers, as they never compromise on quality. On the other hand, Japanese buyers can afford to pay for high quality.

Garment exports to Japan maintained roughly a 175 percent growth rate in between 2008-10, according to the EPB. Even with the duty, Bangladesh registered a 231 percent rise in knitwear exports to $60 million in the first 10 months of the past fiscal year; and earned $90 million from woven garment exports — 121 percent growth over the same period a year earlier.

The Japanese textile and clothing investors are also coming to Bangladesh. Big entrepreneurs like Maruhisa, Yokohama Tape TM Textiles etc. have decided to invest a significant amount of money here. Three related companies — NI Teijin, CHORI and FVG — have opened liaison offices in Dhaka, and two companies opened quality-control inspection centres (PQC and K2) to meet Japanese national standards.

Meanwhile, a Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) delegation visited some Latin American countries to assess, explore and prepare for current and future potential of Bangladesh’s garment exports. During the visit, tremendous responses were received from importers and buyers of those countries. Rough reckoning says Bangladesh can fetch US$400 million from apparel exports to three Latin American countries in the next three years. These countries are Brazil, Mexico and Chile.

The main obstacle to raising garment exports to Latin America is the absence of Bangladesh missions in those countries. If government missions are opened in the countries, then it would be convenient for Bangladesh exporters to catch market there,textile experts say.

Brazil’s readymade garment import amounted to $ 767.072 million last year, of which $303.631 million knitwear and $463.441 million woven, while Bangladesh’s export to that country was $50.287 million ($ 33.599 million knitwear and $16.688 million woven).

Mexico’s import totalled to $1,947.85 million last year, ($982.58 million knitwear and $965.27 million woven), of which Bangladesh shared $114.01 million ($61.76 million knitwear and $52.25 million). Out of Chile’s total RMG import to the tune of $ 1,074.83 million last year ($517.39 million knitwear and $557.44 million woven) Bangladesh took a part of $7.47 million ($ 5.26 million knitwear and $2.21 million). The Mexican government has agreed to allow any Bangladesh businessman holding a US visa to visit that country. Besides these countries, Bangladesh is eyeing opening new market for RMG export to Russia, Turkey and Colombia.

RMG buying houses, both local and foreign, are now growing rapidly in Bangladesh, as the country has become a lucrative place for RMG outsourcing on the appreciation of Chinese currency against the greenback. As part of their business expansion, foreign buying houses are eying to set up more liaison offices here. The buying houses including M&S, Adidas and Tesco have already published advertisements in newspapers to recruit experienced merchandisers for such liaison offices to collect RMG products at a competitive price from local garment units.

There is no denying that the country’s export witnessed a significant growth during the last two decades due to growing competitive strength of the local exporters, mainly the RMG exporters, against their rivals from countries like India, China, Vietnam and Pakistan. Among other factors, efforts of the private entrepreneurs and the provision of cash incentive played a significant role in export growth. Cash incentives offered by the government also helped to build up many backward linkage industries and generated employment.

The garment industry has now emerged as a prime industrial sector in the country. More than five million people are directly and indirectly employed in the sector. Also, the local apparel industry is facing stiff competition in the world market. There is a need for developing forward linkage industries for sustaining in the competitive markets. Overall situation in the garment sector is much better now. But still, there should be more improvements in the social sector where workers’ living conditions are conspicuously tagged.

Source: thefinancialexpress-bd.com