Refayet Ullah Mirdha

In the January-March period of the current year, garment shipments to American markets declined by 17.68 percent to $1.75 billion, according to data from the Office of Textiles and Apparel (OTEXA), a body under the American Commerce Department.

China (together with Hong Kong) continues to be the largest origin economy for counterfeit and pirated goods, accounting for more than 85 percent of global seizures of counterfeit goods from 2017 to 2019.

So far, any loss of productivity or major casualty has been averted while no incident related to the thin presence of workers or missing shipment deadlines has been recorded.

The Parliament’s vote came on the 11th anniversary of the tragic collapse of the Rana Plaza building, which killed 1,138 garment workers and injured more than 2,000 others.

Although there has been a fivefold increase in number of unions in 11 years since the country's deadliest industrial incident, most are failing to live up to expectations

The 2,270 square feet store on Banani Road 11 opened on April 1, aiming to draw the rising middle-income population with an assortment of imported denim jeans, t-shirts, polo shirts, and formal and casual woven shirts for men and women.

Bangladeshi apparel exporters are facing one of the highest tariffs at 15.62 percent in the US, which imported more than $116 billion worth of garment items last year. Bangladesh's share stands at 9.3 percent.

The American Apparel & Footwear Association (AAFA) has expressed support for revival of the Generalised System of Preferences (GSP) to reduce costs faced by US citizens.

Buyers are already asking suppliers to execute orders as soon as possible because the time to transport goods has been extended by an additional 15 days following the outbreak of the Red Sea crisis in October.

Garment export to the United States, Bangladesh’s single largest market, is showing signs of a rebound on the back of a revival of the world’s largest economy, consumers opening up their wallets, and falling inflation.

Garment exports to the US declined 19.24% to $1.18 billion in January and February

Overall exports posted a 4.39 percent growth to $43.55 billion in the July-March period of the current financial year.

The Biden administration identified bribery, corruption, customs, anti-competitive procurement system and violation of intellectual property rights as major trade and investment barriers in Bangladesh.

The midday sun blazes down on SM Sourcing, the world’s highest-rated green garment factory in Gazipur’s Konabari. About 60 workers on one of the factory floors are busy making export-quality frocks as they hurriedly finish their work ahead of lunch. Despite the summer heat outside, only a few ceiling fans are switched on and the factory floor is quite cool.

Despite garment exporters transforming their factories, international buyers are not paying a premium for the products they source from the eco-friendly factories

Speaking about Bangladesh, the ILO said its governing body took note of the report on the progress made with the implementation of the roadmap of actions and was mindful of its 2021-26 timeline for the labour sector reform as well as of the results yet to be achieved.

However, apparel shipment to the EU rose 3.27% in Jul-Feb

Before the minimum wage was raised to Tk 12,500 in December, thousands of workers took to the streets to press home their demand for a minimum salary between Tk 23,000 and Tk 25,000.

Textile makers in Bangladesh are witnessing slow sales ahead of Eid-ul-Fitr due to factors including a drop in demand for women's salwar-kameez amidst a high living cost and a lack of interest among the affluent class to donate clothes as Zakat to avoid hassle.

Despite facing one of the highest tariff rates, Bangladesh is the third-largest apparel exporter to markets in the US because of its efforts to improve working conditions, end forced labour, stamp out counterfeits, and provide safe and high-quality products to American consumers, said the American Apparel and Footwear Association (AAFA) at a hearing recently.