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| Friday, 13 August 2004 |
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Floods paralyse Bangladesh garments industry NARAYANGANJ, Bangladesh, Thursday (AFP) Floods that submerged up to two-thirds of Bangladesh have paralysed the garments industry, the country's largest export earner, and left thousands of workers struggling for survival. While most of Bangladesh's garment factories are in areas that were not flooded, production was hit because two-thirds of workers could not get to work, said Fazlul Haque, president of the Bangladesh Knitwear Manufacturers and Exporters Association. The industry accounts for over 76 percent of Bangladesh's foreign earnings and employs 1.8 million workers in the aid-dependent nation of 132 million people. The country will see a production loss of up to 75 million dollars, said Annisul Haque, president of the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association. Some factory owners say production losses from the flooding - the worst since 1998 and which have claimed over 700 lives - could be as high as 100 million dollars. "I can't tell yet if buyers have lost confidence but if that happens, it would be a serious problem," said Golam Muhammad Faruk, owner of Crimson Attire Ltd in Narayanganj, just east of Dhaka. The flooding could not have come at a worse time. Bangladesh is struggling to hold on to its markets ahead of the expiry of the Multi-Fibre Arrangement which had ensured export quotas to key markets such as the United States. The government has estimated the overall cost of flood damage to infrastructure and property at 6.6 billion dollars. Even garment consignments produced on time missed buyers' deadlines as the month-long flooding that turned much of the country into a vast lake disrupted transport to the main port at Chittagong, owners said. |
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