Refayet Ullah Mirdha

Losses piled up for local traders and exporters yesterday as goods could not move owing to the countrywide transport strike.

The countrywide transport strike disrupted the smooth functioning of the apparel supply chain in Bangladesh for the second straight day yesterday, hurting the recovery of the garment shipment.

Premium prices from international clothing retailers and brands have remained elusive for deserving local textile and apparel makers who have doled out extra money and efforts in setting up green buildings and adopting eco-friendly manufacturing practices.

The consumers and merchants who have been the victims of fraudulent business activities by some e-commerce companies but did not file cases will get back their funds soon, a source said yesterday.

Exporters in Bangladesh have kept setting new records as merchandise shipment fetched $4.72 billion in October, the highest single-month receipts.

Intelligence services have identified anywhere from 13 to 19 e-commerce entities which have defrauded customers and merchants of thousands of crores of taka, as per reports provided to a Digital Commerce Cell (DCC).

Opex & Sinha Textile Group, once one of Asia’s largest garment and textile makers, has decided to close big operations at Kanchpur, Narayanganj following a reduction of work orders and financial losses.

Textile and garment makers and exporters yesterday urged the government to quickly simplify the country’s export-import procedures as work orders are in a rising trend despite the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

Bangladesh’s plans of signing a free trade agreement (FTA) with Thailand has turned more plausible with a feasibility study conducted by the Bangladesh Trade and Tariff Commission.

The government will pay $569 million as the first annual instalment against the loan taken from Russia for the construction of the Rooppur nuclear power plant, the largest infrastructure development project in Bangladesh.

The wait for tens of thousands of customers and merchants who are victims of scams perpetrated by 10 e-commerce firms is lingering on as there are no strong efforts on the part of the government to realise the money and compensate them.

The competition for export orders intensified amid the pandemic and the airport authorities are not making the exporters’ lives any easier.

The government has formed a new committee to bring all e-commerce firms in Bangladesh under one umbrella and safeguard the interests of the consumers and merchants who were deceived.

Highway theft is becoming a growing concern for garment exporters.

Shipping of garment products through Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport has slowed down again as the Explosive Detection Systems (EDSs) at the airport remained mostly out of order for almost three weeks.

The government will begin registering e-commerce and F-commerce firms within a month in a bid to restore discipline in the nascent industry and protect customers and merchants from unscrupulous business practices.

Bangladesh has recorded its highest single-month export earnings at $4.16 billion in September this year thanks to a strong rebound of garment shipments amid a recovery of the global supply chain from the severe fallout of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Power cuts in China have started to affect Bangladesh’s garment and other industries reliant on raw material supply from the country, a blow that could derail the recovery of the economy from the coronavirus pandemic.

The first meeting of a high-powered committee formed to recommend an e-commerce policy is going to be held tomorrow at the commerce ministry.

Bangladesh’s prospects of keeping exporting to the European Union duty-free have brightened as the bloc has proposed to update rules to allow a growing number of graduating LDCs to qualify for the preferential trade benefit.