Production costs soar in power crisis: BKMEA
April 29, 2009
The use of diesel due to constant power outages has increased production costs in the knitwear sector by 20 percent, said BKMEA President Fazlul Hoque yesterday. “The power situation turned so bad that outages continue through half of the factories’ total production period,” Hoque said. “The production cost is increasing significantly due to the power and energy crises in the factories as the owners will have to depend on diesel,” Hoque said. On top of that, the prices of apparel items are declining because of global recession, he told a meeting with State Minister for Power and Energy Shamsul Haque Tuku at his secretariat office.
The leaders of Bangladesh Knitwear Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BKMEA) met with the state minister to seek measures to improve power and energy supplies to their factories.
Hoque suggested the government supply gas to the knitwear factories — even by halting gas supply to fertiliser factories — as it has an option of importing fertiliser from the international market.
The BKMEA chief said the government can import fertiliser from the international market, but the knitwear is a local export item. “The government must keep alive the readymade garment sector,” he said.
During the meeting, Hoque urged the minister to cancel the decision of fixing Tk 500,000 as licence fees on captive power plants as the business is not running well due to global recession.
The minister did not speak to reporters after the meeting.
Source: The Daily Star
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