Latest news with #AnwarHossain
Yahoo
19-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
India Ends Land Port Entry for Bangladeshi Garment Imports
India has imposed restrictions on Bangladesh's readymade garments (RMGs) from entering the country via its land ports, forcing the latter's exporters to rely on longer, more expensive shipping routes. Bangladeshi cotton and cotton yarns, as well as items such as processed foods, plastic goods and wooden furniture, will no longer be allowed through six land ports in northeast India, under certain restrictions imposed by Directorate General of Foreign Trade Saturday. More from Sourcing Journal Ocean Carriers Levy Surcharges, Cut Pakistan Port Calls Amid India Trade Embargo Maersk Expects No Cost Impact From Port Fees, Assures 'Unchanged' Service Tariffs Tank China's US Exports, but Southeast Asia and India Cash In Garments will be allowed to enter India only through the Nhava Sheva and Kolkata seaports, according to the notification. According to the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA), in the first 10 months of the current fiscal year, RMG exports to India have already reached $563 million. A whopping 93 percent of cargo shipped goes through land ports. 'Land ports provide easy access for various goods. Shipping through seaports will take significantly more time,' BGMEA administrator Anwar Hossain told Bangladesh publication The Business Standard. 'We are currently consulting with exporters to understand the full impact. Once that's assessed, we'll approach the relevant authorities to seek solutions and explore alternative channels.' Exporters rerouting goods through Kolkata would require the cargo to travel roughly 1,200 kilometers via road or rail to reach other northeastern cities closer to the Bangladesh-India border. While sending goods through land routes to India typically can take one-to-three days, the sea routes would take two weeks. According to a report from another Bangladesh publication, The Daily Star, hundreds of trucks carrying India-bound goods were stuck at land ports or forced to leave without dropping off goods in the wake of the directive. At Benapole, the largest land port in Bangladesh, at least 36 trucks carrying ready-made garments were stranded on Sunday. Bangladeshi Garment exporter Energypac Fashions Ltd reported three containers of formal suits and pants worth over $300,000 were stuck at Benapole. India's government likely made the decision to help open more opportunities for the country's expanding domestic textile sector, and curb the indirect entry of Chinese fabrics routed through Bangladesh. According to India's National Textile Committee, the policy could generate between 1,000 and 2,000 crore Indian rupees, or between $117 million and $234 million. Indian textile stocks surged early Monday on the news, with Siyaram Silk Mills jumping more than 8 percent and Kitex Garments and Raymond Limited increasing 5 percent. Under India's commerce ministry, the directorate implemented the trade policy shift in another escalation of tensions between the two countries since Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina was ousted last summer. Hasina is currently residing in India under self-imposed exile, with the Bangladesh government seeking her extradition. India has yet to comply with the request. The restrictions will not apply to Bangladeshi exports to Nepal and Bhutan transiting to India. Additionally, imports of fish, liquefied petroleum gas, edible oil and crushed stone from Bangladesh can still pass freely through Indian land ports. The move to impose entry to RMGs and the other exports will hit 42 percent of India's total inbound trade from Bangladesh, affecting $770 million in product, according to a report from New Delhi-based Global Trade Research Initiative (GTRI) released Sunday. Readymade garments are valued at $618 million, the report calculated. India and Bangladesh have both imposed supply chain restrictions on each other in recent weeks amid the growing tensions. In April, India revoked Bangladesh's access to transshipment services, which allowed the latter to export goods via India's land borders and customs stations. Bangladeshi exporters used the service to ship goods out of India's airports and seaports, with Indian exporters urging the government to end the service to the congestion that had built up. Bangladesh had implemented some barriers of its own, halting foreign yarns from being imported into its own land ports in a move that pleased textile mills but frustrated apparel exporters in the country. Bangladesh orders roughly 45 percent of India's total cotton yarn exports. The country also restricted rice imports from India through the same land routes last month, and placed bans on paper, tobacco, fish and powdered milk imports. GTRI founder Ajay Srivastava said in the report that the cumulative actions, along with operational delays and tightened port inspections, have hampered Indian exporters and triggered calls for a 'calibrated response.' 'Top global brands like H&M, Zara, Primark, Uniqlo and Walmart source apparel from Bangladesh, some of which enters India's domestic market,' said Srivastava. 'Indian manufacturers have long expressed concern over the uneven playing field: they pay a 5 percent GST on locally sourced fabric, while Bangladeshi firms import fabric duty-free from China and receive export incentives for sales to India—giving them an estimated 10–15 percent price advantage.' India implemented a 20 percent import tariff on nine varieties of knitted fabric in February to control flooding of cheap textiles apparel into country—namely from China.
Business Recorder
01-05-2025
- Business
- Business Recorder
Apparel sector: PRGMEA, BGMEA sign MoU to drive export growth
KARACHI: In a significant step towards strengthening trade and investment ties between Pakistan and Bangladesh, the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) and the Pakistan Readymade Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (PRGMEA) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU). The MoU was signed on April 28 at a local hotel in Dhaka by BGMEA Administrator Anwar Hossain and PRGMEA Vice Chairman-Central, Aamir Reyaz Chottani. The ceremony was attended by notable dignitaries, including Commerce Adviser SK Bashir Uddin and Pakistan's High Commissioner to Bangladesh Syed Ahmed Maroof. Key highlights of the MoU knowledge exchange: Sharing best practices and expertise to drive growth and competitiveness in the apparel exports sector. Industrial Collaboration: Exploring opportunities for joint ventures and partnerships to enhance industrial capacity and productivity. Exchange of business delegation: Facilitating visits and exchanges to foster trade and investment between the two countries. Participation in Trade Exhibitions: Encouraging participation in each other's trade exhibitions to showcase products and services. Shared objectives: The MoU emphasizes the shared objective of driving sustainable growth, enhancing competitiveness, and leveraging the complementary strengths of both countries' garment and textile industries. This collaboration aims to unlock new opportunities and promote deeper engagement between the two major players in the global apparel market. 'This MoU marks a significant milestone in our efforts to strengthen trade and investment ties between Pakistan and Bangladesh. We look forward to working closely with BGMEA to enhance collaboration in the apparel exports sector,' said Aamir Reyaz Chottani, Vice Chairman-Central, PRGMEA. 'We are excited to partner with PRGMEA and explore new opportunities for mutually beneficial cooperation. This collaboration will enable us to leverage each other's strengths and enhance our competitiveness in the global market,' said Anwar Hossain, Administrator, BGMEA. The Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) is the premier trade body representing the garment industry in Bangladesh. The Pakistan Readymade Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (PRGMEA) is a leading trade association representing the interests of garment manufacturers and exporters in Pakistan. Copyright Business Recorder, 2025
Yahoo
26-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Ahead of Eid, Bangladesh's Garment Workers Protest Over Unpaid Wages, Bonuses
Nearly 250 garment workers descended upon the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association headquarters in the country's capital of Dhaka on Sunday to demand the wages they say they're still owed after their layoffs three months ago. Their sit-in continued through Monday evening, according to local media, interfering with activities at the factory owners' trade group. BGMEA administrator Anwar Hossain told the Daily Star that he wasn't 'fully aware' of the blockade because he was busy with his responsibilities at the Export Promotion Bureau, where he is vice-chairman. Hossain has helmed the BGMEA's interim committee since Muhammad Yunus's caretaker government ordered the dissolution of the organization's board of directors ahead of fresh elections. He said the trade body has been tracking factories that have been struggling to pay salaries and Eid bonuses on time, but that the Roar Fashion case is unique because the owner, former Awamaki League lawmaker Sifuzzaman Shikhor, has been untraceable. More from Sourcing Journal Nike's Supply Chain Workers Continue to 'Fight the Heist' Bangladesh's Strategy for Avoiding Trump Tariffs? A Buy-cott. The Solidarity Center is On the Brink. Where Does That Leave Garment Workers' Rights? 'It's the usual—,' Miran Ali, a member of the BGMEA's interim committee, told Sourcing Journal, using an expletive to emphasize his point. 'The guy's absconded, buggered off, didn't pay the wages.' Roar's former employees aside, similar demonstrations have been brewing elsewhere in Dhaka, as well as in manufacturing hubs such as Chittagong, where one protestor, who had been calling for the payment of arrears, also on Sunday, died after he suffered a stroke. Workers have also been increasingly hitting the streets to demand a 10-day Eid holiday—the official respite is three days, though individual factories can choose to extend this—in line with what government officials receive. Despite what appears to be a modest recovery in orders since disgraced prime minister Sheikh Hasina's August ouster—garment exports grew 10.6 percent to $26.79 billion during the July-February period—there remain caveats involving the improvement of 'law and order' before Bangladesh can take complete advantage of higher tariffs on China and potentially Mexico, Faruque Hassan, a former BGMEA president, told the Daily Star. The American Apparel & Footwear Association, the Fair Labor Association and member brands such as Calvin Klein owner PVH Corp. and The North Face parent VF Corp., have also called for the industry to reform Bangladesh's labor laws and tackle longstanding issues such as wages and better workplace conditions. 'We are united around shared goals for a more competitive, socially responsible and sustainable industry in Bangladesh,' Nate Herman, senior vice president of policy at the AAFA, said in January, before the Trump administration's aggressive cost-cutting measures kneecapped civil society organizations working to accomplish just that. As of Tuesday, more than 200 of Bangladesh's 3,500 garment factories had yet to dole out bonuses ahead of Eid-ul-Fitr, which marks the end of Ramadan and is expected to fall on March 29 or 30 this year, the BGMEA estimates, even though they were instructed to dispense bonuses by the 20th and pay half of March's salaries before the weekend. Some 11 BGMEA-member factories face a high risk of unrest due to the non-payment of workers' wages and Eid bonuses. 'We are pushing to get it done,' Ali said of payments. 'We have identified about a dozen which are significant.'
