ED: Keeping our RMG industry in shape

Bangladesh’s RMG industry has long established our ready-made garments as the primary export product of Bangladesh, amounting to 83% of our total exports, a proportion that does not look to be reducing any time soon.  

As such, it is imperative that the industry take whatever steps necessary to ensure that it continues to function in the best way possible. 

In a recent webinar, which discussed the findings of a study conducted by the Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD) and Institute of Policy Studies, Sri Lanka (IPS), experts opined that value-chain-based solutions that integrate all variables of the supply chain process -- suppliers, manufacturers, buyers, brands, as well as governments of sourcing countries -- can help take the Bangladesh RMG industry to the next level. We need to be paying attention to these factors.  

Such dialogue is not only important, but necessary for future thinking; the Covid-19 pandemic has ushered a “new normal” where entire industries are being compelled to adapt and re-think their approach to business, and the last thing that Bangladesh needs is for its primary export industry to fall into complacency and be unable to keep up with the current trends. 

It is important to acknowledge that the country’s RMG industry has made efforts into improving safety, particularly in the wake of the Rana Plaza disaster, as Bangladesh boasts the most number of green RMG factories. Yet, certain barriers have always kept us from taking the next logical step and producing higher-end RMG products. 

Bangladesh eventually will need to diversify its export basket, a point that this newspaper has editorialized on numerous times, but the fact also remains that RMG is likely to continue to be our most important sector for a long time, and adding value to its existing nature is important for Bangladesh’s overall development.