B Mirror Report: Over the past 15 to 20 months, around 50 textile mills across the country have shut down due to unequal competition, while another 50 are operating at reduced capacity. As a result, more than 200,000 workers have lost their jobs, textile entrepreneurs said at a meeting of the Bangladesh Textile Mills Association (BTMA).
Speaking at the meeting held at Gulshan Club in the capital on Sunday, BTMA President Shawkat Aziz Russell said the country’s textile sector is facing a severe crisis due to low-priced yarn imports from India. He alleged that Indian traders are dumping yarn in the Bangladeshi market at prices below 30 cents per kilogram. Consequently, yarn imports from India surged by 137 percent in the last fiscal year, while domestically produced yarn worth Tk 12,000 crore remains unsold in local spinning mills.
Russell said many textile mills have been forced to shut down because they cannot compete with the cheap Indian yarn. Each of these factories involved investments ranging from Tk 500 crore to Tk 700 crore, making it extremely difficult to restart operations once closed. He noted that one of his own five factories has already shut down, while another is on the brink of closure. “Closing a factory is not easy. Banks must be repaid before shutting it down. If the current situation continues for another six months, I may remain BTMA president without owning a factory,” he said.
He also criticized delays in policymaking, stating that while India can issue policy decisions within three hours, similar decisions in Bangladesh often take more than a year.
The BTMA president urged the government to announce policy support for the spinning sector within the next three days. His demands include providing 10 percent cash incentives for both direct and deemed exports of yarn, expanding the Export Development Fund (EDF), lowering interest rates on EDF loans, reducing bank lending rates, and extending loan repayment grace periods.
Former BTMA presidents A. Matin Chowdhury and Mohammad Ali Khokon, along with current directors of the association, were present at the meeting. Addressing the gathering, Matin Chowdhury said 50 textile mills have already closed due to unequal competition, while another 50 are operating at minimal capacity. He explained that Indian yarn producers benefit from multiple incentives, including cash subsidies, production-stage support, fuel concessions, land acquisition benefits, and equipment purchase incentives, enabling them to export yarn at extremely low prices.
He further alleged that large volumes of Indian yarn are being dumped into the Bangladeshi market and recommended withdrawing bond facilities for importing yarn of the same quality that domestic mills are capable of producing.
