Textile & Garments

As many as 370 factories have missed the Apr 16 deadline for payment of workers amid the coronavirus lockdown despite warning of legal action, according to government data.

The Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association feared that the country’s readymade garment exports in the March-May period of this year would fall nearly $5 billion short of the regular figure due to the coronavirus outbreak across the world.

The garment and knitwear exporters’ associations have decided to keep the factories shut until Apr 25 after the government extended the lockdown with the coronavirus cases rising.

Nine textile and garment business associations in six countries including Bangladesh on Wednesday asked the global brands and buyers to honour the terms of readymade garment purchasing contracts and not re-negotiate price or payment terms during this unprecedented global pandemic of COVID-19.

Shibnath Roy, inspector general of DIFE, urged factory owners to refrain from laying off workers, considering that the government has announced a massive stimulus package aimed at protecting of workers and the industry.  

Near 100 apparel factories have suspended production due to a shortage of work orders during the coronavirus pandemic.

Rubana’s plea came hours after hundreds of workers headed back to Dhaka from different districts to join work sparking fears of contagion.

In Bangladesh’s apparel industry, more than one million garment workers have already been laid off or furloughed as a result of order cancellations due to coronavirus fallout, research shows.

The value of readymade garment export orders cancelled or put on hold by global buyers due to the worldwide coronavirus outbreak exceeded $3 billion till Monday, exporters said.

President of Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) Dr Rubana Huq has said buyers have so far cancelled orders worth US$ 1.48 billion following the outbreak of coronavirus.