“You die, we live!”, 03 May 2020

.... As Europe stutters to reopen after the coronavirus pandemic, global apparel businesses are making up their loss with money of manufacturers.

… [G]oods that were already in stores of buyers but not paid for, goods that are still lying at ports of export destinations and work of goods that are in progress at factories in Bangladesh.

For goods that are already in stores, buyers are pressing garment-makers to take payments six months later or wait till the end of year for an amount that's to be determined on sale.

For goods that are lying at ports … [brands demand] up to 50% discount on agreed prices…

And prices of goods that are to be shipped in the next 3-4 months would be slashed by up to 30 percent.

Orders worth $3.15 billion (of 1,153 factories) have already been cancelled … "It will directly impact the lives of 2.2 million workers, not to mention their families." [said BGMEA]

About 80 percent of 5,000 factories in Bangladesh supply the cheap clothes to the world market … Factories in this bracket are barely-surviving and set to be hit hard …

Garment-makers … hurried … to cut short the lockdown period and open factories…

"Garment manufacturers are in fear of their apparel-rivals in Vietnam that has recovered fast from the pandemic and is open for business," observed development economist, Prof. Rashed Al Mahmud Titumir…