The garment manufacturing bodies of the Bangladesh Knitwear Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BKMEA) and the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA), jointly wrote a letter recently to the Commerce Ministry seeking 2.5-fold increase in the export-oriented knitwear industry’s wastage rate.
According to media reports, subsequent to the garment makers’ demand, the concerned ministry has, reportedly, formed a committee and asked it to submit a report on the actual wastage rate at different stages of production after visiting factories, and that of different countries, including Sri Lanka, India and Pakistan while also provide necessary recommendations.
The garment makers, reportedly, underlined that wastage rate has increased in the production of high-cost knitwear items — in the export-oriented composite knitwear industry, Commerce Ministry has fixed 16 per cent wastage rate for the whole process of production (from cotton to yarn to fabric to finished products), which has been in effect for more than two decades — and demanded it be raised from the current 16 per cent to 40 per cent.
Now, the demand put forth by the garment manufacturers has, reportedly, baffled the officials of the concerned ministry considering the fact that general assumption is that use of modern technology should bring down wastage rate even as there are also apprehensions that if the demand is accepted, unscrupulous entities, taking advantage of the same could sell cotton imported under bond facilities for export purposes in the open market.
