Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) has urged its members to remain more cautious while negotiating over export orders to avert taking orders going below a justified rate.

At the same time, the apex body of the apparel exporters, called upon the international buyers to give  fair prices of the products considering the increased costs of cotton, freight and other relevant costs.

“We should no way negotiate any export order at a price that might go below the production cost,” BGMEA President Faruque Hassan told reporters at a press conference held in a city hotel on Saturday.

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He also said they also need greater support from the buyers to survive in this difficult situation as the Covid-19 had an impact on them. “International supply chain will remain uninterrupted if the suppliers can sustain and survive.”

The press conference was arranged to share their engagements and outcomes on recent visits to the United Kingdom, Belgium and Scotland.

BGMEA first Vice President Syed Nazrul Islam, Senior Vice President S.M. Mannan (Kochi), Vice President Md. Shahidullah Azim, Vice President (Finance) Khandoker Rafiqul Islam, Vice President Miran Ali, Vice President Rakibul Alam Chowdhury, Directors Barrister Shehrin Salam Oishee, Asif Ashraf, Md. Mohiuddin Rubel and Barrister Vidiya Amrit Khan were, among others, present.

The BGMEA chief said they are getting export orders but they are not celebrating it and it was slow in the last two years.

“During Covid-19, we could keep buyers with use even counting losses and kept our factories operational. Despite difficulties, we didn’t leave our workers. That’s why buyers are recognizing us and we’re getting orders,” he said.

The BGMEA President said they are relatively getting better prices than before but still it is low if the growing cost is taken into consideration.

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He announced that the 37th IAF World Fashion Convention will be held in Dhaka in November next year which will be organized jointly by the BGMEA and the International Apparel Foundation (IAF).

This convention is a unique fashion industry event bringing together the entire global industry ecosystem to hear high level industry insights and to jointly discuss concrete actions involving the entire industry ecosystem to create faster industry transition.

The 36th IAF World Fashion Convention was held at the Antwerp Hilton Old Town in Belgium on November 7-8.
Responding to a question, the BGMEA President said they are progressing much and making lot of investment in green factories

Faruque Hassan said they can be a big beneficiary of carbon trading and they will work on it in the future.

Carbon trading is a market-based system aimed at reducing greenhouse gases that contribute to global warming, particularly carbon dioxide emitted by burning fossil fuels.

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Responding to a question, the BGMEA chief said the buyers are not giving additional prices of products for the green factories. “We expect the buyers will look into what we’re doing and they’ll pay additional prices for the green factories.”

He said the BGMEA is working very closely with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and hoped that Bangladesh Missions abroad will work more actively in the days to come which will help expand market for Bangladeshi products.