BTMA urges garment makers to buy yarn from local market

Bangladesh Textile Mills Association (BTMA) on Tuesday urged the woven and knit garment makers to open back-to-back letters of credit (LCs) and buy yarn from the local market to reduce stockpiling of unsold yarn and save US dollar.

The textile millers also demanded the government for increasing the allocation from the Export Development Fund (EDF) to US$30 million from $20 million to help them overcome the crisis caused by the unsold yarn, BSS reports.

Mohammad Ali Khokon, president of BTMA, today placed the demands at a press conference at the BTMA office in the city.

Fazlul Haque, vice president of the BTMA, and Syed Nurul Islam, director, were also present at the press conference.

Speaking at the press conference, Mohammad Ali Khokon said the fall in business was a result of gas shortage, a flood of illegally-imported clothes and complications in opening LCs by banks due to shrinking of the EDF.

The local market was worth $3 billion worth of yarn in general, which has now come down to $500 million, he mentioned.

He said this was because of clothes coming in through unchecked luggage from Pakistan and India.

He expressed worries about whether they could even pay the Eid salaries of workers and utility bills in June.

As a way out, Khokhon suggested ensuring loans for the sector that aren’t classified due to failure of payment till June 2024.