The ongoing pandemic might be an opportunity for some apparel businesses as global demand for items like masks, personal protective equipment, hospital bed sheets and isolation fabric is soaring worldwide, said a senior leader of Bangladesh Garment Buying House Association (BGBA) today.
“The domestic demand for these items has also grown. So, we should exploit this opportunity,” KI Hossain, president of BGBA, said at a press conference at the Economic Reporters Forum office in Dhaka.
“The market size of these items is worth billions of dollars. We can easily grab this market as we already have the set-up at the garment factories,” Hossain added.
The backward linkage industries like spinners, weavers and dyeing sectors of the country would also be benefited, he said.
In response to a query, he said he is not in favour of terminating the workers and employees in the buying houses.
Some four lakh employees are working in 826 apparel buying houses in the country, Hossain added.
He also criticised some foreign buyers like Debenhams, which laid off its Bangladesh office that had 69 employees.
Hossain said some foreign buying houses held back or cancelled work orders worth $800million so far.
Hossain demanded easy loans for the buying houses from the government-announced Tk20,000crore bailout package, so that they can survive during this coronavirus pandemic.
