Refayet Ullah Mirdha

Two of the garment factories that are producing the critical personal protective equipment (PPE) yesterday started distributing the safety gear to doctors and nurses in various hospitals, helping them in their fight against the coronavirus.

The government yesterday said the factories making protective equipment against coronavirus or working on previous orders can remain open.

The Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) yesterday said its members can consider shutting factories to avoid the spread of the coronavirus.

Gerd Muller, Germany’s federal minister of economic cooperation and development, on Tuesday assured that Bangladesh’s garment sector will have his country’s full support in coping with the coronavirus fallout.

Local production of personal protective equipment (PPE) gained momentum yesterday after a joint initiative got approval from the government about the design and fabrics in a development that would boost morale of the health professionals fighting the coronavirus.

Garment workers have continued to manufacture apparel items for Western buyers despite growing fears of coronavirus contagion in the factories given the close proximity of the workstations.

Work order cancellations by international retailers due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic have cost Bangladesh’s garment sector $1.98 billion in revenues as of yesterday, exporters said.

Bangladesh wants to secure more trade benefits from China as a least developed country (LDC) instead of signing a free trade agreement with the Asian economic giant, according to commerce ministry officials.

Bangladesh’s apparel exports to the US grew 16.09 per cent year-on-year to $637 million in January amid the US-China trade war.

Major Western clothing retailers said they are yet to cut back on their work orders from Bangladesh for the coronavirus outbreak in Europe and the US -- where most of the country’s apparel products are headed -- in a reassuring development for the sector that rakes in 84 per cent of the exports receipts and employs about 4 million.

The import of Thai products is growing in Bangladesh on the back of higher demand and good quality in a country where the consumer class is fast-expanding.

Bangladesh will benefit from the fallout of the coronavirus as most of the globally renowned companies are planning to shift work orders from China to other Asian countries, including Bangladesh, according to a new survey.

Prices of yarn marked a sharp rise in the domestic market over the last one month as the coronavirus fear has triggered panic buying, according to industry insiders.

Export earnings in February edged down 1.80 per cent year-on-year to $3.32 billion mainly because of a slowdown in apparel shipment, according to data from the Export Promotion Bureau (EPB).

Just after the Independence War of 1971, Bangladesh had to put up a fresh fight to get rid of the scars that the nine-month battle left on its economy.

When misfortune strikes, it comes in waves, it is often said. And this perfectly sums up Tipu Munshi’s brief tenure as the commerce minister thus far.

Rowshan Ali had everything going for him: a small sweater factory he set up in Demra on the outskirts of Dhaka in 2011 was raking in $2 million in export receipts every year.

Many multinational clothing brands, which source billions of dollars of garment items from Bangladesh, have recently expressed their willingness to open their outlets in the country with a burgeoning economy.

The Accord on Fire and Building Safety in Bangladesh, the platform of more than 190 mostly Europe-based retailers formed after the Rana Plaza building collapse, is finally leaving the country this May.

Bangladesh’s apparel shipments to the US, its main export destination, edged up in the first 11 months of 2019 -- a heartening development given the inclement condition on the export front.