The use of diesel to power factories due to constant power cuts has increased production costs in Bangladesh’s knitwear sector by 20 percent.

Speaking to the Daily Star on Tuesday, BKMEA President Fazlul Hoque said:  “The power situation turned so bad that outages continue through half of the factories’ total production period.”

“The production cost is increasing significantly due to the power and energy crises in the factories as the owners will have to depend on diesel,” Hoque said. He also told a meeting with State Minister for Power & Energy, Shamsul Haque Tuku at his secretariat office, that on top of that, the price of apparel is declining because of the global recession.

Leaders of Bangladesh Knitwear Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BKMEA) met with the state minister to seek measures to improve power and energy supplies to their factories. Hoque suggested that the government supply gas to the knitwear factories, even at the expense of halting gas supplies to the country’s fertiliser factories, as there is the option of importing fertiliser from the international market.

The BKMEA chief said the government can import fertiliser from the international market, but knitwear is a local export item. “The government must keep alive the readymade garment sector,” he said.

Source: The Daily Star