Refayet Ullah Mirdha

The ongoing regular power cuts are eating away at the profits of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in Bangladesh since they need to rely on costly diesel to keep their operation up and running, which is raising the cost of production. 

Bangladesh is targeting a lower export growth in 2022-23 despite raking in a record $52.08 billion in the last fiscal year largely because of insignificant strides in products and markets diversification and ongoing global turmoil. 

Garment exporters are demanding the European Union (EU) remove the 7.4 per cent threshold on apparel imports from any given country in the proposed Generalised System of Preferences (GSP) to ensure smooth continuation of exports to the world’s largest trade bloc.

The bottled soybean oil price has been reduced by Tk 14 a litre at retail.

Big and green apparel factories are content bagging a constant stream of work orders but small, medium and subcontracting units are suffering amidst volatility in the global garment supply chain stemming from the Russia-Ukraine war.

Bangladesh’s rawhide market appears to have made a comeback this Eid-ul-Azha on the back of higher demand, better prices and a bar on rawhides arriving in Dhaka.

Rawhide traders are expecting a good season for business this year as tanners have cleared last year’s arrears owed to them, which would in turn enable purchasing skins and hides from seasonal traders during upcoming Eid-ul-Azha. 

A deepening energy crisis is hitting industries in Bangladesh hard, forcing them to cut production by as much as 50 per cent as escalated import bills have forced the country to lower gas purchase from international sources.  

Like previous years, the government has been approving applications of different companies seeking to export rawhide to create demand and enable better prices, said Tapan Kanti Ghosh, senior secretary to the commerce ministry, yesterday. 

The government could pay additional incentives to the exporters of non-cotton apparel items in order to help them offset the severe impacts of the Russia-Ukraine war on the shipment of garment items. 

Exports from Bangladesh hit an all-time high of $52.08 billion in the just-concluded fiscal year, giving much-needed breathing space to the country amid ongoing volatility in the foreign exchange regime, official figures showed yesterday.

Local readymade garment exporters are expecting a strong rebound of the inflow of work orders from December onwards as prices of cotton have started to decline in the international markets. 

Businesses have expressed discontent at Bangladesh Bank setting a private sector credit growth target of 14.1 per cent for 2022-23 that is lower than the just-concluded fiscal year. 

The government is setting up 17 economic zones in southwestern districts to bring about an industrial revolution in the largely non-industrialised region as it looks to accelerate economic growth of Bangladesh.  

Work orders to the garment sector in Bangladesh fell by more than 20 per cent for the September and November season as consumers in the western world are tightening their belts owing to blistering inflation and deepening uncertainty caused by the Russia-Ukraine war. 

Yesterday’s opening of the Padma Bridge gave connectivity a shot in the arm since it is going to cut the time needed to move goods between the southwestern region of Bangladesh and the capital city by two to four hours, thus cutting the cost of doing business.

The ongoing Russia-Ukraine war has started to have a heavy impact on garment shipments to Russia as export earnings are declining significantly from this promising market for Bangladeshi apparel goods. 

The ongoing meeting of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) has been extended by one day as countries could not reach a consensus on various issues under discussion within the stipulated time.

Bangladesh has once again called upon nations not to put any restrictions on their food grain exports and sought the continuation of its TRIPS waiver until December 31, 2032, to save the lives of people and newborns.

Two major economic powers of the world, the US and the European Union, are divided on continuation of trade facilities meant for the least-developed countries (LDCs) once they make the United Nations status graduation to become developing countries.