Apparel Online India Issue 1-15 March '18 | Page 45

BEYOND INDIA
Bangladesh draft policy
to register apparel
buying houses
Bangladesh Government is
moving to bring discipline and
accountability in the line of
apparel buying houses. Ministry
of Commerce has prepared a draft
policy which has been forwarded
to all stakeholders to shed light on
its proposals. Apparel Online has
obtained insights into the contents
of the draft policy.
The policy entitles all buying
houses to register with the
Export Promotion Bureau (EPB).
Without registration, no house
will be able to handover Letter
of Credit (LC) from buyers to
manufacturers. Notably, there are
over 1,000 apparel buying houses in
Bangladesh, about 400 of which are
under a structural body Bangladesh
Garment Buying House Association
(BGBA). These houses obtain
orders from buyers abroad, source
from local manufacturers and then
deliver to those apparel buyers.
Up until now, these buying houses
have been operating without a legal
framework and oversight – which
came to light rather badly when
Bangladesh’s apparel industry
suffered a US $ 72,000 setback, the
largest in history, last year due to
fake orders from a non-existent
overseas source. “We welcome the
Government’s move,” said
Md Anwar Shahid, Vice President
of BGBA to AO, adding, “This will
be good for those who want to be
genuinely involved in the buying
house business. In fact, we have
been pushing the Government for
quite some time for this.” Shahid
is also the Managing Director of
Shimex International Ltd., a buying
house.
Further, AO has learnt that the
draft policy would entitle both
buying houses and apparel
manufacturers to enter into a
contract before finalising on a
business deal. Copies of the draft
contracts would then have to
be endorsed by their respective
organizations. Buying houses in the
country would then have to remain
Buying houses or buying
agents will have to send
statements of order
placement of garments
export to the BGBA
every three months.
In turn, the trade
association will have
to send attested copies
of the statements to
Bangladesh Bank and
EPB.
transparent in determining prices
while negotiating between garment
buyers and exporters.
Workers call off strike in
Myanmar
Around 200 workers of a garment
manufacturing factory in Myanmar,
who were on strike since February
1, 2018, have now returned to work
after the management positively
responded to some of their demands.
The workers are associated with the
garment factory which is located in
Industrial Zone 1, Hlaing Tharyar
Township in the Yangon region. The
Chinese-owned factory has been
operational in the country for last
10 months, as reported. According
to media reports, the garment
company – reportedly called One
of Front – agreed to go ahead with
four out of their five demands.
The workers were demanding to
have a local supervisor instead
of a foreigner, requested for good
behaviour at the workplace,
repayment of reduced wages and
removal of CCTV cameras from/
around the ladies toilets, reports
The Myanmar Times. Earlier, the
company’s management responded
negatively to the workers’ demands
to rehire their sacked leader
Ko Thant Zin Htwe. The factory
is now waiting for the Arbitration
Council’s decision on the matter.
Workers, who have returned to
work, have decided to wear red
armbands while at work as a sign
of peaceful protest against the
management’s refusal to reappoint
their leader. Notably, Myanmar’s
National Tripartite Committee
on the Minimum Wage increased
basic pay wage to garment workers
of the country by 33% earlier
this year. The new minimum
wage will be 4,800 kyats/day,
effective from March 2018.
After handing over the letters of
credits to exporters on behalf of
buyers, the buying houses will
have to continue to carry out its
responsibilities until the payment
is delivered to the exporters. As
per the draft, buying houses or
buying agents will have to send
statements of order placement
of garments export to the BGBA
every three months. In turn, the
trade association will have to send
attested copies of the statements to
Bangladesh Bank and EPB.
Additionally, there will be a
panel to monitor and supervise
the activities of the registered
buying houses. It will inform the
Ministry of Commerce in case of
any discrepancy in following the
regulations. It will also recommend
necessary actions that need to be
taken against a violator.
“Our aim is to expand our apparel
export market by creating a good
reputation. Until now, there has
been no policy for the apparel
buying houses, and these houses
have been operating without
supervision,” Abdur Rahim Khan,
Deputy Chief, Textile Cell, Ministry
of Commerce, told media.
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