Garment manufacturers in Bangladesh are working on fixing a price for their exports.
This price will be made viable in line with rising production costs caused by higher wages and factory remediation. There has been a rise in minimum wages by 50 per cent for apparel workers. Businesses have faced an increase in production costs of around 20 per cent in recent years. But buyers are unwilling to pay higher prices and this, say exporters, has eroded their profit margins. Exporters say a higher price will also benefit workers.

Bangladesh’s apparel industry is going through massive factory remediation, value addition, innovation and technological upgradation in order to cope with buyers’ demands.

Bangladesh’s apparel industry has already made remarkable progress in factory remediation, building green factories and meeting stringent safety standards. Annual export earnings from the industry have grown from 9.3 billion dollars in 2007 to 30 billion dollars in 2018. At the same time, Bangladesh’s reputation has also improved globally due to remediation of the garment factories by Accord and Alliance.

Bangladesh is still a lucrative destination for sourcing low-cost garments after China. Outside of China, Bangladesh is increasingly given preferences for apparel sourcing due to the competitive price and quality.