According to the data by BGMEA, fashion retailers have cancelled or put on hold more than $3 billion in orders due to the coronavirus outbreak, though a handful have agreed to pay anyway.

The recently released data from BGMEA reflected both orders already made or in the works and planned orders from the country, which is the world's second largest exporter of clothing after China.

The cancelled orders included tens of millions in purchases from many big buyers, including European buyers C&A and Inditex, Primark of Ireland, Britain's Marks & Spencer and Tesco and U.S. retailers like Walmart and Target.

Bangladesh is just beginning to feel the direct impact of the pandemic and its government has ordered a shutdown of most businesses to help contain it. But shocks to the country's export markets have been cascading into its economy for weeks. A survey of factory owners in Bangladesh released Friday showed millions of Bangladesh factory workers being sent home without the wages or severance pay they are owed.

The BGMEA reported that $1.8 billion in orders have been put on hold and another $1.4 billion have been cancelled. Cancellations of planned orders, for April-December, amounted to nearly $1.7 billion, it said. The figures are conservative because they exclude orders that would go to multiple buyers.