United News of Bangladesh

The leaders of Bangladesh Textile Mills Association (BTMA) have alleged that Indian textile mills are dumping yarn and fabrics in the Bangladesh market to destroy the domestic textile industries. They said that the Indian government is conspiring to destroy the textile sector in Bangladesh, under the guise of various types of subsidies and assistance to Indian factories. BTMA President Shawkat Aziz Russell made this allegation at a special press conference organized at the Crystal Palace of the Gulshan Club in the capital on Monday. Indian mills have emerged as a threat to the Bangladeshi industry through smuggling routes and land ports by selling yarn and fabrics at prices lower than the cost of production.  “If this continues, our textile sector will also fall victim to the consequences of ruined jute mills,” he alleged. Bangladesh Bank sets Ramadan transaction times for banks The BTMA President said, “We have already appealed to the government to stop importing yarn through land ports and impose anti-dumping duty on Indian yarn.”  “They have taken our jute industry and now they have started dragging it with textiles and ready-made garments.” He said the government cannot take decisions as quickly as other countries can. "My government hesitates until after the industry is destroyed," he added. Russel requested that imports through land ports be stopped until the capacity of our land ports is built to prevent false declarations of yarn. He demanded that this interim government take the initiative in investigating the dumping of Indian mills.  “Despite increasing the export of ready-made garments, on the other hand, imports are increasing through false declarations through land port, and our yarn is not being sold," he complained.  “During the previous BNP government, yarn imports through land ports were stopped, but when the Awami League government came to power, it was resumed and we complained and stopped it and demanded that yarn and fabrics be imported through sea ports only,” said president of BTMA. The BTMA president said that local mills have stored yarn worth taka 8-10 thousand crore as India is exporting yarn to Bangladesh at a lower price than the Indian market. BTMA vice-president Saleudh Zaman Khan Jitu alleged that India is state-sponsoring dumping by offering a subsidy of Rs 11 per kg of yarn. Stock market rises, turnover surpasses Tk 500 crore again He said that Bangladesh's ready-made garment factories are not getting the benefit of buying yarn at a lower price, which is going to the buyer at the end of the day. Md. Saleudh Zaman Khan (Jitu) said that due to the gas crisis, the domestic mills can produce at only 50-60 percent of capacity. He demanded that the increased gas price be reduced to below Tk20 by reversing the weight and average cost of gas. Engineer Rajib Haider Munna raised questions that in whose interest is LNG import being encouraged by storing gas underground? He mentioned that the textile and ready-made garment industry cannot survive by importing LNG. Threatening to surrender the factory keys at the BERC hearing, he said that it would not be possible to run the factory for Tk70, so they would surrender the factory keys on the day of the hearing. To encourage investment, BTMA Vice President Md. Abul Kalam demanded that bank interest rates be brought down to single digits and fixed for the next 3 years to survive the industries.

Textile millers have urged the government not to raise the gas prices, saying it will raise production cost. They urged the government to address the nagging gas crisis through raising local productions. Bangladesh Textile Mills Association, a representative body of the local textile mills, made the call while addressing a press conference at a hotel in the city on Saturday.  “If the gas prices are raised further, it will have a big impact on the local textile manufacturers which have been supplying backward linkages to the export oriented readymade garment (RMG) industries,” said BTMA president Mohammad Ali Khokon. He claimed that if gas prices are raised, it will escalate their production cost by 25 percent which will make the local textiles non-competitive in the global market.  He alleged that currently local textile millers have been experiencing a severe gas crisis which pushed them to halt their productions. Also read: Defying rejection, Petrobangla, 7 other distributors again push for gas price hike “Due to the gas crisis for the last three months, we apprehend, textile productions will incur a loss of $1.5 billion in their supply to the local market while $2 billion for the export market—the RMG sector”, he added. The BTMA also demanded a long term energy policy of 5 years from the government so that they could design a long term plan in their production on the basis of that policy.  “We want a business-friendly energy policy,” said Khokon. BTMA Vice Presidents Fazlul Hoque and Abdullah Al Mamun, directors Md Mosharaf Hossain and Saleudh Zaman Khan were also present at the press conference. Khokon alleged that Titas Gas, despite being profitable according to its balance sheet’s figure, has moved a proposal to the Bangladesh Energy Regulatory Commission to raise gas price which is totally unfair. He said only 8 percent of the Titas Gas company’s share is held by the public while remaining 92 percent by the state. But Titas gas is desperate to raise gas prices in order to protect the 8 percent public shareholders interest, he alleged. The BTMA president said that they have to operate captive power plants having 1700 MW capacity to ensure uninterrupted power supply to their mills against the backdrop of the failure of the authorities concerned to ensure smooth supply. He said currently textile mills have to pay Tk 13.85 per unit of gas which was last raised in 2019. The BTMA leaders said they have been facing a severe crisis in the last two years due to the Covid-19 situation. Also read: FBCCI concerned over move to hike gas price They said that in the year 2020 they could not do business . “In 2021 we had to go through a recovery process and we are planning this year to make profit. The move to raise gas prices will come as a big blow to this plan”, said the BTMA president. Referring to the experts view, he said the current gas crisis could be managed through increasing local production by installing compressors at the gas fields. Khokon also demanded installation of  Electrical Volume Corrector (EVC) gas meters at the textile mills to ensure proper billing. Textile mills have to pay a higher price than that of their consumption due to the non-existence of the EVC meters. “We could not get the correct reading from the gas distribution companies as existing meters are not capable of providing correct reading”, he said.

Bangladesh Textile Mills Association (BTMA) Director Syed Nurul Islam on Saturday urged the government to allow the factories in textiles, garments and accessories sectors to run strictly maintaining health guidelines during the lockdown. Islam, also a director of the Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FBCCI), said such decision to keep factories operational during lockdown will help the export-oriented sector of the country continue their struggle to sustain amid the Covid-19 situation. Otherwise, he said, the government’s stimulus package or support will go in vain. Also read: Bangladesh again breaks daily Covid death record with 77 The Chairman and CEO of Well Group of Industries made the request in a message sent to media on Saturday. He said if the factories are allowed to operate with strict health guidelines in place, over five million of male and female workers will be able to survive. The government has decided to put the country under a strict lockdown for a week from April 14 amid a growing number of Covid-19 cases. Also read: Worsening Covid crisis: Bangladesh resorting to full lockdown Seventy-seven people died from Covid-19 during 24 hours (till 8am Saturday), according to the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS). This is the highest number of deaths due to Covid-19 recorded in a day so far in the country while the number of daily deaths on April 8 was 74.