Bangladesh’s garment industry recorded a 13 percent increase from July to December last year compared with the same period the year before, but workers said their conditions remain unimproved. Bangladesh’s key clothing manufacturing industry supplying global brands was crippled by a revolution that toppled the government last year, in which garment sector protesters played an important role. While owners say business has bounced back, frustrated workers said hard-won concessions have done little to change their circumstances, and life remains as hard as ever.
Production in the world’s second-largest garment manufacturer was repeatedly stalled by the months-long violence, before protesters forced long-time autocrat former Bangladeshi prime minister Sheikh Hasina to flee in August last year. An interim government, led by Nobel Peace Prize laureate Muhammad Yunus, took over. However, protests continued in a string of garment factories for better conditions and more pay, with the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) warning in October last year of US$400 million in losses. Scores of factories closed and tens of thousands lost their jobs. However, after a 5 percent wage hike was agreed in September, the industry rebounded.
The South Asian nation produces garments for global brands — ranging from France’s Carrefour, Canada’s Tire, Japan’s Uniqlo, Ireland’s Primark, Sweden’s H&M and Spain’s Zara. The apparel industry accounts for about 80 percent of Bangladesh’s exports, earning US$36 billion last year, dropping little despite the unrest from the US$38 billion exported the previous year.
Despite challenges with a cooling of demand, Anwar Hossain, the government-appointed administrator of BGMEA, said the industry was returning to strength. “The largest contributor to exports was the apparel sector,” Hossain said. The garment industry recorded a 13 percent increase from July to December last year — the period after the ousting of Hasina — compared with the same period the year before, he said.
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