Apparel Online Bangladesh Magazine Magazine April 2018 | Page 49

BANGLADESH CANVAS
Automation costing women's jobs in
Bangladesh RMG sector: Study
Automation in the garment
manufacturing factories based in
Bangladesh is coming at the cost of
women workers’ jobs, says Centre
for Policy Dialogue (CPD), a local
independent think-tank.
The association released a study
titled ‘Ongoing Upgradation in RMG
Enterprises: Results from Survey’ at
a hotel in Gulshan, Dhaka, recently.
At the event, it was also highlighted
that the rate of employment of
women in the garment industry
has decreased over time. After (the
initiation of) automation, the ratio
of women at factories came down to
60.8 per cent in 2016, from what was
64 per cent a year ago.
CPD’s Research Director Khondaker
Golam Moazzem explained that
factory owners are not convinced
that a woman can handle the
modern machinery.
For some time now, Bangladesh’s
garment sector, especially the
knitwear industry, has been
adopting modern machinery
in a bid to bring down product
standardisation and reduce cost.
A previous report in this regard,
published in December last year,
had stated that automation is
threatening jobs at factories.
The report published by CPD
said that the garment industry of
Bangladesh underwent massive
overhauling which has resulted in
overall social progress but limited
economic progress. It said that
the introduction of technology has
increased, and consequentially the
rate of women employment has
decreased. and safe’ work environment, their
participation in the initiatives is
low. He advised them to take it up
on the international platforms in
partnership with other stakeholders.
Rehman Sobhan, Chairman of
CPD, said that while many foreign
apparel buyers talk about a ‘social The press conference of CPD was
conducted by CPD Honorable
Fellow Dr Debapriya Bhattacharya.
BGMEA President Siddiqur
Rahman, Former Labour Secretary
Mikhail Shipar, Economist D.
Enamul Haque, BKMEA Second
Vice-President Fazle Shamim Ehsan,
labour leaders Shamsun Nahar
Bhuiyan, and Babul Akter were
present at the programme.
Garment export drops to US $ 2.6 billion
in February'18
Bangladesh, the world’s second-
largest garment exporter, is once
again witnessing a drop in its
apparel exports.
The country’s apparel exports
have dropped in February 2018 to
approximately US $ 2.60 billion
from US $ 2.80 billion in January
2018, as per data released by
Export Promotion Bureau (EPB).
According to the statistics, total
apparel shipment from the apparel
manufacturing hub accounted for
over 84.5 per cent of Bangladesh’s
overall exports. This stat was
relatively higher when compared
to normal, since the apparel export
usually accounts for around 82
to 83 per cent of the total export
basket of the country.
The data further shows that the
knitwear division fetched US $ 1.21
billion (46 per cent), and the woven
division generated around US $
1.38 billion (about 54 per cent) in
export revenue for the country’s
garment industry.
On a point-to-point basis, the total
July 2017-February 2018 apparel
exports stood at US $ 20.25 billion,
which stands as an 8.68 per cent
improvement over last year (US $
18.6 billion). The cumulative sum
exceeded the strategic export
target (for July-February 2018) of
US $ 19.6 billion by 3.2 per cent.
Col lective Bangladesh’s exports
for February, which stands at US
$ 3.07 billion, also surpassed the
strategic export target of Export
Promotion Bureau, set at US $
3.03 billion by 1.39 per cent. On a
point-to-point basis, it was a 13.53
per cent increase over last year’s
earnings (US $ 2.7 billion).
Markedly in January 2018,
apparel exports fetched US $ 2.88
billion, which was almost the
same as in December 2017. It is to
be noted that, in September last,
the apparel exports experienced
a sharp fall, plummeting to US $
1.62 billion, before showing signs
of recovery.
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