Unsold Heaps of Yarn
Yarn spinners have put the government on notice. Certain government decisions have made a very adverse impact on the domestic demand for yarn produced at home. Heaps of unsold yarn are piling in the spinning mills. The Bangladesh Textiles Mills Association has, in a memorandum, expressed their resolve to close down their mills if the government would not rescind the hurting measures and take steps that could bring local yarn back into demand.
So it's a glut of yarn that is hurting our spinners. First, there was smuggling that hit a saturation point. As Bangladesh yarn costs somewhat more than the smuggled stuff even government owned mills forsook government mill-produced yarn and went for the foreign varieties. The BTMA has in their memorandum enumerated the reasons that push up the local price. Across the border they grow their own cotton and spin it on locally fabricated machines with labour adding to it a century's accumulation of skill and efficiency.
It will take Bangladesh years to reach that stage and compete with their prices. What to do then? Closing down the spinning mills would not help any cause, far from helping reach that stage. It would take away jobs by the tens of thousands and make the nation dependent. And at the same time the norms of market economy cannot be flouted so early in the day. The BTMA has called straightway for protection at least for some years. The situation is such that it perfectly calls for a protected market for local yarn. Now, there are also examples galore of protection rather stunting development and the price for that being exacted from society. It depends on the government to devise ways that would avoid malignant protection and yet make our spinning industry a viable and profitable one.
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