"Minister seeks fair prices for apparel", 6 February 2019

Bangladesh demanded fair prices for garment items from the US retailers and brands as the local apparel exporters spent billions of dollars to strengthen workplace safety that increased the cost of production. Commerce Minister Tipu Munshi made the call during a meeting with US Ambassador in Bangladesh...

“The cost of production has increased by 25 percent to 30 percent over the last five years due to remediation of the garment factories as per the recommendations of the Accord and Alliance, two foreign agencies for building inspection.”..

The minister said, for instance, the t-shirt which was supposed to be produced at a cost of $1 earlier now costs as high as $1.25 or $1.30 a piece. “So, we can demand around 25 percent to 30 percent rise in the price of garment items now.”

“We will hold a meeting with the CEOs of almost all major retailers and brands like Walmart, Inditex, Target and Primark soon to urge them to increase the prices of garment items as we spent a lot of money to fix the loopholes in the factories,” the minister said.

Munshi also said the buyers always demand higher compliance at the factory level, but they do not want to increase the prices of the products...