Small garment factories in dire conditions: Survey

Smaller garment factories are feeling the pinch of the Covid-19 pandemic more than the bigger ones, according to a survey.

Small factories, which are not members of any organisation like BGMEA and BKMEA, are in dire conditions as they are not getting loans from the stimulus packages, it found.

The Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD), BRAC University and MIB jointly conducted the survey that was disclosed at a webinar on Saturday.

Research Director of CPD Khondaker Golam Moazzem presented the findings of the survey. Prof Rehman Sobhan chaired the webinar.

Dr Fahmida Khatun, executive director of CPD, said they have surveyed 610 factories to understand the impacts of the coronavirus pandemic and the recovery trend. She said they will provide recommendations to the sector based on the findings.

Moazzem said small entrepreneurs of the apparel sector are not getting loans from the stimulus package. He said loan application process needs to be easy for small businesses; otherwise the recovery of the sector would be delayed.

He also urged the government to make wage-payments through banking channel mandatory.

Rehman Sobhan said workers are facing health risks in Covid-19 pandemic. He asked the government and stakeholders to introduce a health insurance for garment workers.   

Shirin Akhter MP, Mohammad Hatem, vice president of BKMEA and Syed Hasibuddin Hasib of MIB also spoke among others on the occasion.

The survey found that 78 percent of the factories faced major business challenges during the April-May period of 2020.

Also, the average number of workers declined around 10 percent due to the pandemic during the period. The average number of workers in garment factories went down to 790 in September 2020, which was 886 in December 2019, said the findings.

The survey found that factories recruited their laid-off employees at lower wages. The overall resilience of the RMG sector is below the average of 43 percent. The major weaknesses were — dependency on a small number of buyers and poor factory management of small scale factories.