History of Garments Industry in Bangladesh
Arif Hasan

April 1

2014

Department of Management University of Dhaka

Table of Contents
History of Garment industry in Bangladesh ........................................................................................................2 Pre-liberation period ....................................................................................................................................................3 Post-liberation period ...................................................................................................................................................4 Early 80’s ...........................................................................................................................................................................4 Present condition: ...........................................................................................................................................................5 At present Bangladesh is: ........................................................................................................................................5 Concluding Remarks .................................................................................................................................................. 10

History of Garment industry in Bangladesh
Recently J P Morgan made a list of which “Frontier Five” emerging 5 countries which are worth investing among the five country Bangladesh is one of them, Goldman Sachs have identified Bangladesh as a as suitable claimer of “Emerging Next 11” because of its progress in the field of economy. Bangladesh is not developed in industrial field but luckily it is very much enriched in the Garment industries since last two decade. Economic progress of Bangladesh is the contribution Garments GDP is of sector. coming of total

Major portion of from this sector. 75.65%i export income is coming from this. 145 countries are purchasing garments ‘Made Bangladesh’ more our product.ii Story of garment industry Bangladesh is of a than knit from in & 120 woven

here with the tag

countries are using

very short one though once upon a time we were famous for producing different kinds of

exclusive work like Moslin & Jamdani cloth. In that time our country was a good hub for the royal figures luxurious garments goods. Various recent accidents & recent claims by the workers to understand workers basic right has added the most significant episode of the story. It is one of the most progressing archetypal LDCs, which is following the same track way for advancement since last 2decade. Blessed by the MFA (Multi Fiber Agreement) its garment industry started its journey from domestic to international market. Fruitful assistance by the foreign partner’s entrepreneurs grabbed the opportunity horses & still driving it to the fullest. It is a matter of great regret that it is not getting assistance in proportion to its contribution so; this sector deserves more concentration & support by government for further advancement.

Pre-liberation period
After the World War II (1939-1945) the total industrial sector of Europe & North America was totally broken. Developed countries like Great Britain, France, the Soviet Union (Present Russia), the United States, China, Germany, Italy, Romania, Austria and Japan were engaged in that war. Total loss of life was in that time was nearly 25 million (armed forces) & 55 million (Civilian). As a result of that there was a huge demand for skilled labor in the war broke out countries. Labor forces of Europe became highly organized by forming union & they asked for a higher rate of facilities (salary & other employee services like transportation, housing, medical allowance). That means higher cost of production for the producer. Finding no way to reduce the cost retailer started to search for cheaper source of production. South Korea, Hong Kong, Taiwan Asian developing economies of that time represent them as a good outsourcing option for the European producer because they were able to produce quality products at a very cheap rate with a highly disciplined & non-unionized labor. Moreover they had very much outsourcing friendly open economic policies. A very small garment unit called Reaz Garments (1960) was the pioneer of garments industry in Bangladesh. It was a tailoring outfit store in Dhaka city which served domestic market of Bangladesh for a long 15 years. Boishakhi Garments, Paris Garments & Jewel Garments were established on the following years.

Post-liberation period
In 1974 MFA (Multi Fiber Agreement) was made. According to this agreement developed countries was able to impose an export quota over the countries that export more than the bilateral agreement. That agreement became a problem for the exporting countries. To get rid of this problem they searched for countries those were outside the shade of quota & had cheap labor force. Bangladesh started to receive FDI (Foreign Direct Investment) in garments sector. Reaz Garments became M/s Reaz Garments Ltd in 1973 & started to operate outside the country. In 1978 M/s Reaz Garments Ltd made the first step in international market. 10,000 units of men's shirts were sold to a Paris based firm which worth French Franc 13 million. It was the first direct export of any Bangladeshi garments. In 1979 a non-equity joint-venture firm called Desh Garments Ltd was established. Desh Garments Ltd was the first 100% export oriented garments of Bangladesh. Desh Garments Ltd had good corporate relation with South Korean business giant Daewoo Corporation. Desh Garments Ltd was greatly helped by Daewoo Corporation in many area of operation especially in marketing & marketing related issues. Daewoo Corporation gave free training to some Bangladeshi worker in 1980. After receiving training when they came back many workers separate themselves from their employers. They started their own business. Bangladeshi entrepreneurs of garments industry got familiar in the global market within a very tiny period of time. Bangladesh became a very lucrative source for the foreign buyer due to cheap labor with a very flexible rules & regulation as the government had a high level priority towards this sector. The major hindrance in exporting was the funding of working capital. To use the cheap labor of our country foreign buyer often arrange special credit facility for the supplier & different commercial banks of Bangladesh provided equity capital. This problem came to an end with the introduction of back-to-back letter of credit, which was a great blessing for the garments owner.

Early 80’s
The numbers of garments manufacturing units were 47 in the beginning of year 1983. After getting high priority & support from the government it shot up to 587 in epidemic form. In

1999 it was 2,900& at present number of garments units are 5400 which have created employment opportunity for people near 4.0 million (mostly female illiterate worker). 75% total units are in Dhaka district ( Narayangong, Gazipur, Kanchpur, Ashulia, Savar, Valuka, ) rest of them are in port city Chittagong & Khulna.

Present condition:
Our Garments industry is a late creation (1976) in our industrial activity but now-a-days it is playing a vital role in overall economic health. Ready Made Garments, knitwear, apparel is the main exporting item of our country. It is not earning foreign currency only it is also helping us to alleviate poverty by providing job. This is also helping us to upward the living standard of our people. USA, EU, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Russia, Japan are our major customers.

At present Bangladesh is:
Field of exporting Ready Made Garments (World market)iii Textile (World market) T-shirt (In Europe)vi iv Position in the world market 2nd 3rd 2nd 5th 6th 2nd

Knit wear (World market)

v

Ready Made Garments ( In USA) vii Ready Made Garments (IN China)

viii

Cheap labor is not only the vital factor for cheap production, different kind of tax & duty advantage, available cheap raw material; low real estate costs are also very much cheap here in Bangladesh. Besides these Bangladesh as a third world developing country is getting advantage of tax free entry into different developed countries according to the bilateral agreement. Except china in total Asia & every country in south Asia is clearly lag behind Bangladesh in terms of delivering capacity. Besides that our producer also offers quality products at very cheap price, Ready-made garments goods are divided into two broad categories’. They are woven & knit products. Different kinds of soft cloth, socks, undergarments, blazer cloth, tank top, legins, and sweater are knit products, on the other hand round collar t-shirt, shirt, different kinds of pant are woven products. Among different kind of product shirt, t-shirt, woolen sweater, jeans constitute lion share in export. Holding of quota in that following category, economies of scale as a result of huge production are the reasons behind this narrow concentration of importing this product by the exporting country.

There is an old saying that, “Do not try to get all the golden egg from the golden goose at a time” There is a specific reason behind mentioning this old saying. Garment producer of Bangladesh are like the farmer of the myth they do not take care of their goose properly. They do not ensure minimum healthy wage for their labor to support an easy & joyful life. In many factory owners often keep 1-2 month’s salary & overtime bills in hand to keep the worker under whip. According to the labor law they are deprived from minimum wage & as a result of that since July 2013 they were protesting against it. Their demand was taka 8000/= & after a long time negotiation between worker, owner & wage board of Bangladesh as an arbitrator it is settled by taka 5300/= on November 22, 2013, effective from December 1st, 2013. Where basic wage 3,200 taka; house rent 1,280 taka; medical allowance 320 taka; transport allowance 300 taka & food subsidy allowance is 200 taka. The problem is that foreign retailer or global brands are not willing to pay the higher rate for the labor cost of product.  Manufacturing units often take extra order than their production facility, to complete order in time they often sub-contract work to the small unit in sub-urban area. They also often outsource their work to reduce the production cost. Bad working environment at the work place (especially in sub-urban small units) is another proof of greediness of Bangladeshi garment manufacturer. Minimum safety equipment in case of any accidental event is missing in almost all units. They do not follow proper construction code in time of construction activity which is very much vital. Proper ventilation system, light & hitting system, healthy washing & coloring plant, children care room, common room is missing in 90% manufacturing units. Huge cost of lives caused by several accidents is the ultimate result of this activity. The output of these events is that many large retailers are threating us to ensure the minimum standard of working place (including the outsourcing manufacturing units) otherwise they will close all their business dealings with Bangladesh.  Due to different accident in garments industries in Bangladesh USA one of the major buyer canceled GSP (Generalized System of Preferences) facility. Actually GSP facility cancelation by USA is not a big issue at all because we export 0.2% under GSP facility in

USA but the problem is that, if USA continues to do so than EU number one importer from our country will also cancel GSP facility.  In maximum we can see that Production focusing item area is on 15-20 items where total item is more than 100 items. Producer eager to produce these fixed items because of handsome margin. They do not think about the future that production trend may change in any time as in this business customer is king & their choice may change in any time.  Bangladesh as a third world developing country is under the super vision of different kinds of social organizations, CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility), NGO’s (NonGovernment Organization) stakeholder regarding compliance.  Though Bangladesh is Multi party domestic country its power is basically seized by two political parties & a five year government cycle after an election. Political clash is not a big issue during the reign of each government but the political power transferring process is very much unsound. “Hartal” (Strike) is often called by the opposition party, in that time any kind of transport is unavailable on the road to move. Besides these there are also some other issue that are creating problem in the growth of garment industry. They are:      Dhaka-Chittagong highway is very much congested & cause loss of valuable time. Train communication system is also not very suitable to carry container Due to lack of deep sea harbor sea freight (Lead time) is increased by 10days which lead to late delivery of goods Different problem ( strike, crane shortage, carriage shortage) of Chittagong port is also worth to mention In case of political unrest & emergency producer cannot send deliverable goods on time as air transportation system is not up to the mark. Manufacturer is ready to 5times more charges than the regular time but cargo plane is not available.    Lack of automation in finishing & manufacturing process Lack of employee satisfaction at work Mismanagement of work

 

Lack of CSR activities Illiterate & unskilled labor force

Concluding Remarks
“The story of Bangladesh has just begun” Head of sourcing office

Bangladesh as one of the faithful source of quality garments goods supplier should be a lucrative target on the radar of all EU, North American & developed Asian countries. Seeing the trend we can say that this sector is supposed to grow double by 2015 & Quad by 2020. It is hoped that competitors & new players of this field will not be able replace Bangladesh as it has the most two important quality of this field than the other. They are; quality huge production facility with soft price. Despite various kind of problem of in this sector scintillating future is waiting for us. According to a survey of McKinsey & Companyix as a result of government tendency to produce more technological goods/ value added goods, production capacity shortage & continuous declining profit margin in china Chief Purchasing officer (CPO) & suppliers of different European countries & USA planned to decrease purchase from China by 86% in the following 5 years. So the work order of China will be shift to third world countries like Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, Indonesia & Bangladesh. They (CPO’s & retailers) are on the beginning of a journey to find out Next China. Probably their mission will come to an end when they will arrive Bangladesh. It is a hotspot target by CPO’s & retailers because Bangladesh is blessed by attractive price of production, low wage, available labor force, favorable trade agreement, quality product by manufacturer. Besides that, Vietnam has about 2000 factories, Cambodia 260 factories; Indonesia has 2450 factories & on the other hand number of garments manufacturing unit is at present is around 5400 units. According to this survey US & European importers are planning to increase order by 20% within 2015 from now & 25-30% within 2020.

i ii

http://garments-bangladesh.blogspot.com/2013/01/impact-of-rmg-sector-in-bangladesh.html http:// www.thefinancialexpress-

bd.com/old/index.php?ref=MjBfMTJfMjZfMTJfMF8xODNfMTU0NTEy&feature=c3BlY2lhbHNOZXdz&na=QW5ua XZlcnNhcnkgSXNzdWUgMjAxMiAoM3JkIEluc3RhbG1lbnQKFBhcn Q gT25lKQ==

iii

http://www.seagroupbd.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=21:highlights&catid=5:n ews&Itemid=24 iv v vi

http://bdtextilesector.blogspot.com/

http://www.appliquefashion.com/whybangladesh.html http://garmentsacknowledgement.blogspot.com/2012/01/in-1950s-labors-in-western-worldhttp://garmentsacknowledgement.blogspot.com/2012/01/in-1950s-labors-in-western-worldhttp://garmentsacknowledgement.blogspot.com/2012/01/in-1950s-labors-in-western-world-

became.html vii became.html viii became.html ix one (1) since 2002. The firm is always a better option for any kind of advice for government,

McKinsey & Company is 88years old management consulting firm which is holding position number

businessman, & other institutions. They have 100 consultancy offices in 60 countries around the world.