Sitakunda fire toll may reach $1bn: Exporters

Exporters of the country fear that they will lose more than $1 billion in revenue due to the deadly fire in the container depot of Sitakunda in Chattogram.

Exporters said due to the fire, not only the exporters will have to incur losses, the buyers will also be severely affected and that the country once again will face an image crisis abroad.

“The consignments of the biggest buyer of Bangladesh, H&M, which imports $4 billion, were stored in the Sitakunda depot. Though, we are yet to measure the actual losses, we think, the fire ate up more than one billion dollars,” Muhammad Hatem, executive president of Bangladesh Knitwear Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BKMEA) told the Business Insider Bangladesh.

He asked the authorities to set up a separate depot immediately for the chemical products otherwise the buyers will not feel safe to place orders.

“The fire is yet to be tamed. So we don’t know the extent of losses. If it is around a billion dollars, I will not be surprised,” said Shahidullah Azim, vice president of Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association.

BGMEA sent a letter to the depot authority asking for the list of exporters whose products were stored there, he said. 

Moreover, about 3,500 of empty containers were in the depot, so the exporters will suffer from the containers crisis as well, he said.

Bangladesh Inland Container Depots Association (BICDA) primarily estimated that the affected empty containers could be worth $20 million.    

BICDA Secretary General Ruhul Amin Sikder told the Business Insider Bangladesh on Sunday, “This is not the right time to speak out about the losses, but the fire is yet to be controlled. More than 95 percent of the products have been destroyed.”

He said: “I think the container crisis will not hamper the next export but the image of the port will be darkened among the foreign users.”

According to the BICDA, some 800 TUEs of apparel products and 500 TUEs of import products, were stockpiled in the depot.

The capacity of the depot is 6,500 TUEs but only 3,500 TUEs generally had been moving back and forth.   

Meanwhile, due to the Russia-Ukraine war, exporters fetched about $1 billion less than the targeted export in May. This fire ate more than $1 billion in June, too. Wrapping up the fiscal year has become a nightmare for the exporters.   

During eleven months of the current fiscal year, Bangladesh apparel fetched $38.52 billion from the entire international market exporting trousers, denim, T-shirts, sweaters, blouses, underwear, etc.