Major retailers worldwide who were cancelling or postponing export orders in the face of the coronavirus pandemic, have now started to place their orders again, bringing a ray of hope to the Readymade Garment (RMG) sector, following the reopening of factories in the country.
Immediately after the resumption of RMG factory production, owners also started communicating with foreign buyers. In the meantime, the country has obtained Taka hundreds of crores of work orders as major apparel brands and retailers are also reopening their stores in some parts of Europe and the United States.
Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) Director, Anjan Shekhar Das told Bangladesh Post, We have been in touch with the buyers since April 26. Buyers have resumed work orders worth Taka hundreds of crores, which had been suspended for the past two months.”
“We mainly work for them based on two seasons (summer and winter), for each work order we have had three months (production, shipment, reach storehouse), as now we already lost two months, huge quantity remains here, now some middle-range bulk buyers (who purchased in bulk) are communicating with us besides the existing buyers”, added Anjan.
Based on some factory owners’ information, a good number of buyers are putting a condition that they will place more buying orders if orders already placed are shipped early.
AJ Group president Anwar Hossain Cowdhury told Bangladesh Post, “We are getting back some export orders, but they are very few against the canceled or postponed orders. However, as retailers have started resuming their operation, soon the export order volume will come in abundance.”
RMG suppliers of the country have faced an onslaught of order cancellations, reduced order volumes and extended payment terms, which have left many of them having to reduce operations or stop them altogether, unable to bear the financial burden.
Foreign fashion retailers have shut stores across the globe as part of social-distancing measures. Such a compelling step is rippling through fashion’s supply chain, putting at risk the livelihoods of garment workers. This has resulted in cancellation of huge export orders of more than $3 billion in the country’s RMG factories.
However, BGMEA vice president, Faisal Samad told Bangladesh Post, “This is a very critical time for us, some export orders started to be revived as our factory operations resumed. The amount is five to seven percent. We cannot say right now, what fate awaits us in the coming days. But we are trying our best from our side to inform you of good news soon”.