Bangladeshi RMG Sector

The economy of Bangladesh is largely dependent on agriculture. However, in recent years, the Ready –Made Garments (RMG) sector has emerged as the biggest earner of foreign currency. The RMG sector has experienced an exponential growth since the 1980s. The sector contributes significantly to the GDP. It also provides employment to around 4.2 million Bangladeshis. An overwhelming number of workers in this sector are women. This has affected the social status of many women coming from low income families.

History

In the 1950s, labors in the Western World became highly organized; forming trade unions. This and other changes provided workers greater rights including higher pay; which resulted in higher cost of production. Retailers started searching for places where the cost of production was cheaper. Developing economies like Hong Kong, Taiwan and South Korea presented themselves as good destinations for relocations because they had open economic policies and had non-unionized and highly disciplined labor force that could produce high quality products at much cheaper costs.

In order to control the level of imported RMG products from developing countries into developed countries, Multi Fibre Agreement (MFA) was made in 1974. The MFA agreement imposed an export rate 6 percent increase every year from a developing country to a developed country. It also allowed developed countries to impose quotas on countries that exported at a higher rate than the bilateral agreements. In the face of such restrictions, producers started searching for countries that were outside the umbrella of quotas and had cheap labor. This is when Bangladesh started receiving investment in the RMG sector. In the early 1980s, some Bangladeshis received free training from Korean Daewoo Company. After these workers came back to Bangladesh, many of them broke ties with the factory they were working for and started their own factories.

Facts and figures

In the 1980s, there were only 50 factories employing only a few thousand people. Currently, there are 4490 manufacturing units. The RMG sector contributes around 76 percent to the total export earnings. In 2007 it earned $9.35 billion. This sector also contributes around 13 percent to the GDP, which was only around 3 percent in 1991. Of the estimated 4.2 million people employed in this sector, about 50 percent of them are women from rural areas. In 2000, the industry consisting of some 3000 factories employed directly more than 1.5 million workers of whom almost 80% were female. USA is the largest importer of Bangladeshi RMG products, followed by Germany, UK, France and other E.U countries.

Women in the garment industry

Garment sector is the largest employer of women in Bangladesh. The garment sector has provided employment opportunities to women from the rural areas that previously did not have any opportunity to be part of the formal workforce. This has given women the chance to be financially independent and have a voice in the family because now they contribute financially.

However, the women workers are facing many problems. Most women come from low income families. Low wage of women workers and their compliance have enabled the industry to compete with the world market. Women are paid far less than men mainly due to their lack education. Women are reluctant to unionize because factory owners threaten to fire them. Even though trade unionization is banned inside the Export processing Zones (EPZ), the working environment is better than that of the majority of garment factories that operate outside the EPZs. But, pressure from buyers to abide by labor codes has enabled factories to maintain satisfactory working conditions.

In recent times, garment workers have protested against their low wages. The firsts protests broke out in 2006, and since then, there have been periodic protests by the workers. This has forced the government to increase minimum wages of workers.

The future

The RMG sector is expected to grow despite the global financial crisis of 2009.^[9] As China is finding it challenging to make textile and foot wear items at cheap price, due to rising labor costs, many foreign investors, are coming to Bangladesh to take advantage of the low labor cost. Even now for the readymade garments most of the manufacture need to bring all the accessories from abroad, which is very costly. Now they are start using locally accessories minting the required quality. Zippers, buttons, labels, hooks, hangers, elastic bands, thread, backboards, butterfly pins, clips, collar stays, collarbones and cartons are the major garment accessories produced in Bangladesh. Many small and medium accessory industries have grown here over the years, particularly to meet high demand from low-end garment makers The accessory market is dominated by multinational companies operating in Bangladesh, because in majority cases, garment buyers prefer accessories from them over the locally available items, Now it is time for the Bangladeshi Merchandiser to introduce more local trims and trims manufacturer to buyer to show their expertise.

Gallery

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  Garments Factory in Bangladesh
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  Knit Product made in Bangladesh, Factory Showroom
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  Different typr of Wash done upon Denim, Factory Showroom
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  Automatic Printing Machine used in many Factory in Bangladesh
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  Fake Leather Jacket Production In Bangladesh
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  Modern Technology & Machinery are used in Bangladesh Washing Factory for ready made garments.
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  Blazer production in Bangladesh.
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  Most of the ready made garments factory have ETP to save the environment.
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  Each & every Garments made with special care in Bangladesh ready made garments factory
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  Many of garments Factory uses computerize automatic cutting machine in Bangladesh
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  Lot of factory use automatic machine for trouser making
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  Modern Auto Curing Machine in a Washing Factory
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  Auto Crunching Machine are vastly used in washing factory
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  Cotton processing for Fabric making
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  Fabric production
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  Fabric production
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  Local Trims Belt
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  Metal Button Produce in Bangladesh
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  Any kind of Woven Label can be produce in Bangladesh now.
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  Any kind of Paper Item can be produce in Bangladesh
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  Some Factory have the Runway facility for Designer & Buyer to review the product on live model

there is much more potentiality in bangladesh

External links

• Bangladesh Garments Manu. & Expo. Association (BGMEA)