Professional Documents
Culture Documents
The textile and clothing (T&C) industries provide the single source of economic growth in
Bangladesh's rapidly developing economy.[1] Exports of textiles and garments are the principal
source of foreign exchange earnings. Agriculture for domestic consumption is Bangladeshs
largest employment sector. By 2002 exports of textiles, clothing, and ready-made garments
(RMG) accounted for 77% of Bangladeshs total merchandise exports.[2] By 2013, about 4
million people, mostly women, worked in Bangladesh's $19 billion-a-year industry, exportoriented ready-made garment (RMG) industry. Bangladesh is second only to China, the world's
second-largest apparel exporter of western brands. Sixty percent of the export contracts of
western brands are with European buyers and about forty percent with American buyers.[3] Only
5% of textile factories are owned by foreign investors, with most of the production being
controlled by local investors.[4]
Bangladesh's textile industry has been part of the trade versus aid debate. The encouragement of
the garment industry of Bangladesh as an open trade regime is argued to be a much more
effective form of assistance than foreign aid. Tools such as quotas through the WTO Agreement
on Textiles and Clothing (ATC) and Everything but Arms (EBA) and the US 2009 Tariff Relief
Assistance in the global clothing market have benefited entrepreneurs in Bangladesh's readymade garments (RMG) industry. Bangladesh, with a population of about 156 million, is among
the most densely populated countries in the world. In 2012 the textile industry accounted for
45% of all industrial employment in the country yet only contributed 5% of the Bangladesh's
total national income..
every year after the 19751976 fiscal year, lost money. Until the early 1980s the state owned
almost all spinning mills in Bangladesh and 85 percent the textile industry's assets (not including
small businesses).[7] Under the 1982 New Industrial Policy (NPI) a large number of these assets
including jute mills and textile mills were privatized and returned to their original owners.[10]
In the devastating famine in 1974, one million people died, mainly of starvation caused in part by
the flooding of the Brahmaputra river in 1974, and a steep rise in the price of rice. Partly in
response to the economic and political repercussions of the famine, the Bangladesh government
shifted public policy away from its concentration on a socialist economy, and began to
denationalize, disinvest and reduce the role of the public sector in the textile industry while
encouraging private sector participation. The 1974 New Investment Policy restored the rights to
both private and foreign investors.[10] Bangladesh's development model switched from a statesponsored capitalist mode of industrial development with mainly state-owned enterprises (SOE)
to private sector-led industrial growth.[10]
Global restructuring processes, including two non-market factors, such as quotas under Multi
Fibre Arrangement (MFA) (19742005) in the North American market and preferential market
USA (textile)
USA (clothing)
EU (textile)
EU (clothing)
<3%
4%
<3%
3%
3%
2%
3%
4%
As the above table shows, the market shares for Bangladeshi textiles in the USA and both textiles
and clothing in the European Union have changed during the time period of the ATC.[20]
Until FY 1994, Bangladesh's ready-made garments (RMG) industry was mostly dependent on
imported fabrics - the Primary Textile Sector (PTS) was not producing the necessary fabrics and
yarn.[citation needed]
Since the early 1990s, the knit section expanded mainly producing and exporting shirts, T-shirts,
trousers, sweaters and jackets. In 2006, 90 percent of Bangladesh's total earnings from garment
exports came from its exports to the United States and Europe.[11]
Although there was concern, noted in an IMF report, that the WTO's Multi Fibre Arrangement,
the Agreement on Textiles and Clothing (ATC), phase-out would shut down the textile and
clothing (T&C) industry,[21] the Bangladesh textile sector actually grew tremendously after 2004
and reached an export turnover of US$10.7 billion in FY 2007. Bangladesh was expected to
suffer the most from the ending of the MFA, as it was expected to face more competition,
particularly from China. However, this was not the case. It turns out that even in the face of other
economic giants, Bangladeshs labor is cheaper than anywhere else in the world. While some
smaller factories were documented making pay cuts and layoffs, most downsizing was
essentially speculative the orders for goods kept coming even after the MFA expired. In fact,
Bangladesh's exports increased in value by about $500 million in 2006.[22]
Textile exports from Bangladesh to the United States did increase by 10% in 2009.[23]
Currently, the textile mills provide 70% of national exports. This proportion is even higher in
Bangladesh. In Bangladesh, the number of employed workers in the textile industry increased by
400 000 in 1990 to 2 million in 2004, and the number of enterprises from 800 to 4000. Nine
out of ten people employed in the industry are women. In general, the state of the textile
industry depends on well-being of 10-12 million people in Bangladesh. By IMF estimates, as a
result of the abolition of quota exports of Bangladesh will be reduced by 25%.[citation needed]
Employment
Of the millions of wage earning children in Bangladesh in 1990, almost all of them worked in the
ready-made garment (RMG) industry. Based on the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics Labor Force
Survey estimated there were about 5.7 million 10- to 14-year-old children engaged in child labor.
This number may have been as high as 15 million children.[24] In 1993 employers in Bangladesh'
ready-made garment (RMG) industry dismissed 50,000 children (c. 75 percent of child workers
in the textile industry) out of fear of economic reprisals of the imminent passage of the Child
Labor Deterrence Act (the Harkin Bill after Senator Tom Harkin, one of the US Senators who
proposed the bill).[24] The act which banned "importation to the United States of products which
are manufactured or mined in whole or in part by children" would have resulted in the loss of
lucrative American contracts. Its impact on Bangladesh's economy would have been significant
as the export-oriented ready-made garment industry represents most of the country's exports.[24]
The results of surveys varied on the demographics and size of the ready-made garments industry
at the time of the Harkin Bill. One study estimated that there were 600,000 workers in the
industry.,[24][25] BGMEA estimate was c. 800,000.[26] The Asian-American Free Labor Institute
(AAFLI) reported that in 1994 females constituted about "90 percent of all adult workers, and
roughly 60 percent of all child workers."[24][27]
By 2001 the textile industry employed about 3 million workers of whom 90% are women.[28] By
2013, there were approximately 5,000 garment factories, employing about 4 million people,
mostly women, part of Bangladesh's $19 billion-a-year industry, export-oriented ready-made
garment (RMG) industry. Bangladesh is second only to China, the world's second-largest apparel
exporter of western brands. Sixty percent of the export contracts of western brands are with
European buyers and about forty percent with the American buyers.[3] It has been a major source
of employment for rural migrant women in a country that has increasingly limited rural
livelihood options, and where women migrants have been largely excluded from formal work in
the cities.[15]
The structure of gender participation underwent a major shift with the rise of the ready-made
garment industry in Bangladesh. Traditionally the participation of women in Bangladesh's formal
economy was minimal. Bangladesh's flagship export-oriented ready-made garment industry,
however, with female labor accounting for 90 percent of the work force, was "built to a large
extent, on the supply of cheap and flexible female labor in the country."[29]
According to a New York Times journalist by August 2012 the garment or textile industry which
exports worth $18 billion a year, accounted for "80 percent of manufacturing exports and more
than three million jobs" with predictions by McKinsey & Company of the industry tripling in
size by 2020 (McKinsey 2001:10).[12][30] According to the 2014 Bureau of International Labor
Affairs's List of Goods Produced by Child Labor or Forced Labor, the Bangladeshi garments and
textile industry still employs underage children[31] as effective governmental measures are taking
considerable time to be implemented.
Compliance
In 2000 garment entrepreneurs had a reputation for shirking custom duties, evading corporate
taxes, remaining absent in capital markets, avoiding social projects such as education, healthcare,
and disaster relief but, argued authors Quddus and Salim, these entrepreneurs took the risks
needed to build the industry.[32] Bangladesh successfully competes in the manufacturing industry
by maintaining "lowest labor costs in the world." Garment workers' minimum wage was set at
roughly $37 a month in 2012 but since 2010 Bangladesh's double-digit inflation with no
corresponding rise in minimum wage and labor rights, has led to protests.[12]
Other major fires 1990 and 2012, resulting in hundreds of accidental deaths, included those at
That's It Sportswear Limited and the fire at Tazreen Fashions Ltd. Spectrum Sweater Industries,
Phoenix Garments, Smart Export Garments, Garib and Garib, Matrix Sweater, KTS Composite
Textile Mills and Sun Knitting. Major foreign buyers looking for outsourcing demand
compliance-related norms and standards regarding a safe and healthy work environment which
includes fire-fighting equipment, evacuation protocols and mechanisms and appropriate
installation of machines in the whole supply-chain. RMG insiders in Bangladesh complain about
the pressure to comply and argue that RMG factory owners are hampered by a shortage of space
in their rental units. In spite of this the industry exports totaled $19 billion in 2011-2012. They
expected export earnings to increase to $23 billion in 2012-2013.[33]
In an effort to eliminate underlying problems and avoid further deadly tragedies in the RMG
factories in 2010 Clean Clothes Campaign CCC, the International Labour Rights Forum (ILRF),
the Worker Rights Consortium (WRC), and the Maquila Solidarity Network (MSN) contacted
many of the RMG international buyers and offered a set of recommendations regarding measures
that should be taken.[34]
In 2012 the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association announced plans to
expel 850 factories from its membership due to noncompliance with safety and labor standards.
Members of the U.S. House of Representatives have also urged the U.S. Trade Representative's
office to complete its review of Bangladesh's compliance with eligibility requirements for the
Generalized System of Preferences.[35]
Five deadly incidents from November 2012 through May 2013 brought worker safety and labor
violations in Bangladesh to world attention putting pressure on big global clothing brands such
as Primark, Loblaw, Joe Fresh, Gap, Walmart, Nike, Tchibo, Calvin Klein and Tommy Hilfiger,
and retailers to respond by using their economic weight to enact change.[36] No factory owner had
ever been prosecuted over the deaths of workers.[3] This changed with 41 murder charges filed
relating to the 1,129 deaths which occurred during the 2013 Savar building collapse.[37]
Scott Nova of the Worker Rights Consortium, a rights advocacy group, claimed that auditors,
some of whom were paid by the factories they inspect, sometimes investigated workers right
issues such as hours or child labor but did not properly inspect factories structural soundness or
fire safety violations. Nova argued that the cost of compliance to safety standards in all 5,000
clothing factories in Bangladesh is about $3 billion (2013).[36] Immediately following the April
24 deadly industrial accident, Mahbub Ahmed, the top civil servant in Bangladesh's Commerce
Ministry, fearing the loss of contracts that represent 60 per cent of their textile industry exports,
pleaded with the EU to not take tough, punitive measures or "impose any harsh trade conditions"
on Bangladesh to "improve worker safety standards" that would hurt the "economically crucial
textile industry" and lead to the loss of millions of jobs.[3] Two dozen factory owners are also
Members of Parliament in Bangladesh.[36]
In June 2013 President Barack Obama announced that U.S. trade privileges for Bangladesh, the
Generalized System of Preferences, were suspended following the deadly 24 April 2013 collapse
of Rana Plaza, considered to be the global garment industrys worst accident.[38] In 2007, the
American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO) had
submitted a petition under the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) benefits to the Office of
the United States Trade Representative (USTR) "alleging a number of worker rights issues in
export processing zones, the ready-made garments (RMG) sector, and the seafood processing
sector."[39] This investigated was expedited as concerns over labour rights and RMG factory
safety concerns increased in 2012 with more deadly accidents and the unsolved killing in 2012 of
prominent trade unionist Aminul Islam[38][40][41][42][43]
In October 2013, the Government of Bangladesh (GoB) and the International Labour
Organization (ILO) launched the "Improving Working Conditions in the Ready-Made Garment
Sector" (RMGP) Program, a USD $24.21 million three-and-a-half year initiative.[44] The United
Kingdom and the Netherlands jointly contributed USD $15 million.[44] "Rana Plaza and Tazreen
became the symbols of what is wrong in the RMG sector." Ms. Sarah Cook, UK's Department for
International Development (DFID) Head in Bangladesh said that the RMGP was a "key part of
the UK's approach to help ensure safe working conditions and improved productivity" in the
RMG sector and that the "sustainability of the ready-made garment industry has a pivotal role to
play in Bangladesh's continued social and economic development."[44]
Carrefour, Zara, Hema, M & S Mode, ETAM, Western Store, Migros, Celio and PNC in Europe
market."[34] In February 2010 a deadly fire at the Garib and Garib factory killed 22.[34]
assembled in those countries and exported to the U.S." from 2009 through 2019. The Bangladesh
Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA), an industry lobby group, claimed
that in 2008 alone Bangladesh paid "$USD 576 million as duty against its export of nearly $3
billion' mainly consisting of woven and knitwear.
Klein, had endorsed an accord.[63] but Wal-Mart Stores Inc and other companies affiliated with Li
& Fung did not sign the endorsement. Following the April 2013 tragedy, Walmart's Rajan
Kamalanathan, vice president of ethical sourcing for Walmart spoke with the press. Walmart
hired "Bureau Veritas to inspect factories for structural, fire and electrical safety, including
checking building designs and permits as part of an expanded inspection process" and is
pressuring Bangladesh to close factories.[63]
Bruce Rockowitz, Li & Fung's group president and chief executive spoke to Li & Fung's group
shareholders in Hong Kong on May 13, 2013 arguing Li & Fung Ltd should stay in Bangladesh,
and "invest more and try to make safety better and work with the government on doing a better
job on monitoring buildings.'[63]
In January 2010 Li & Fung (Trading) Limited formed a new subsidiary company called WSG
group, a dedicated sourcing stream servicing Wal-Mart globally, selling up to $2 billion worth of
goods including WSG, home furnishings, apparel and other items, during the first year of the
partnership. Li & Fung President Bruce Rockowitz, explained that direct sourcing is a huge,
volume-driven, lower-margin business resulting in the lowest prices which is an advantage to
Walmart. Li & Fung Ltd, a Hong Kong-based company, funnels clothes, toys and sporting goods
to brand-name retailers including Kohl's, Target, Marks and Spencer and Talbots. Since 2006 Li
& Fung control extended deeper into the supply chain to include logistics, production and
product design effectively replacing and consolidated the role of middlemen.[65]
Khulna University of Engineering and Technology (KUET)' has also started B.Sc in
Textile Engineering from session 20122013.
There are Government and private Textile Engineering College under different universities
which offers B.Sc. in Textile Engineering course including specialization in Yarn Manufacturing,
Fabric Manufacturing, Wet Processing, Garments Manufacturing and Fashion Design. The
institutions are as below:
1. Bangladesh University of Textiles, Dhaka, Bangladesh
2. Mawlana Bhashani Science & Technology University, Tangail-1902
3. Bangabandhu Textile Engineering College, Tangail
4. Bangladesh University of Business and Technology,[66] Mirpur, Dhaka