British clothing retailers cancel orders Bangladesh factories in trouble
British clothing retailers cancel orders Bangladesh factories in trouble
The cancellation of orders by British clothing retailers has created a "major crisis" in Bangladesh's clothing industry. Bangladesh's factories are overstocked and will face the dilemma of no income in the future. Many factories are on the verge of closure.
Tipu Munshi, Bangladesh's commerce minister, called on the British government to take action to prevent the collapse of the garment processing industry, which has 4 million jobs.
Cancelled orders with a total value of £ 2.5 billion mainly include spring and summer collections of clothing retailers such as Arcadia (parent company of Topshop), Debenhams, Asda, peacocks, new look and sports direct.
Munshi said that many garment factories are in danger of closing down, which will have a far greater impact than is currently seen.
"The factory may close down," he said in an interview. They will not be able to afford the main costs and may not be able to start again. This is a big problem, and the British government has the responsibility to deal with it properly. In China, the government has taken active measures to support garment factories. The UK should also provide support to retailers so that the economy can be stimulated and retailers can support us. "
Bangladesh has been locked down since March 26, with millions of garment workers being asked to stay at home. Bangladesh is a concentration of British Retail outsourcing production. But local workers have low incomes, few are ready for the crisis, and a large number of workers are suffering from great difficulties due to the suspension of wages during the shutdown. Although the government provides interest free loans to factories in the hope of keeping them in operation and paying workers' wages during the outbreak, enterprises in Bangladesh are unable to adopt a pay off plan like that in the UK.
British retailers have been severely criticized by the media for cancelling orders, with many saying they have communicated with suppliers and promised to pay for orders placed. Both M & S (M & S) and Primark stressed that they had started to implement, and Asda said it had cancelled only 5% of orders from suppliers in Bangladesh.
Prior to that, Primark promised to pay all orders for goods scheduled to be delivered on or before April 17, with a total value of about £ 370 million. At the same time, new look has started to resume some cancelled orders in Bangladesh and said: "unfortunately, we have to inform the supplier that we are unable to place new orders and will temporarily postpone the payment of outstanding items. We have no choice but to do so. We have started to pay part of the suppliers within our ability. "