Rising fuel cost has pushed freight charge significantly up. Cost of production is going up and all these are hitting the consumers hard at the end of the day.

"Production has dropped by 50 percent of our capacity," said Sheikh Masudul Alam Masud, general secretary of Bangladesh Steel Mills Owners Association.

He said, "We usually pay electricity bills of Tk 2,500 to produce one ton of steel products. But production cost is going up to Tk 6,000-Tk 7,000 a ton due to disruption in the power supply."

Presently, there are more than 100 steel mills in the country but only three mills have high capacity generators, mentioned Masud, who is also general secretary of Bangladesh Re-rolling Steel Mills Owners Association.

Generators normally used to run steel mills are very expensive, which are priced at around Tk 10 crore an unit, he said noting it is not possible to make the industry viable taking loans from banks at 15 percent interest to buy generators at such high prices.

Electricity crisis is badly affecting small and medium enterprises (SMEs), as most of them have no alternative captive power. The SMEs generate 80 percent of the country's total industrial employment.

Cement producers said cement price has gone gradually up over the last few months and it is now selling at Tk 310 to Tk 320 a bag, which was Tk 250 just three months ago.

Freight charge has also gone up in the face of rising fuel cost and recent devaluation of taka against US dollar has pushed the import cost of raw materials substantially up.

Cement production has gone down substantially due to power disruption. Around 40 to 50 per cent of the total working hours cannot be used because of electricity failure, said Zahir Hossain, managing director of Mir Cement Limited.

On the other hand, real estate developers said prices of all construction materials have gone substantially up.

"We used to get rod within a day after making necessary payments. But the manufacturers are taking even 15 to 20 days to deliver the materials due to power outage," said Mahmudul Hassan, immediate past general secretary of Real Estate and Housing Association of Bangladesh (Rehab).

Rod price has risen by Tk 5,000 a ton just within a month. Rod price ranged between Tk 37,000 and Tk 38,000 and it is selling at Tk 42,000 to Tk 44,000 a ton now, he said.

Prices of aluminium rose between 20 and 30 percent within a short span of time and sanitary fittings prices have surged heavily between 70 to 80 percent, he mentioned.

Commenting on the overall situation, Mir Nasir Hossain, president of the Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FBCCI), said it has become very common that factories lose five to six hours everyday on an average.

Stressing the need for taking short, mid and long-term measures to overcome the present electricity crisis, he cautioned, "Industrial production might face a colossal setback if the present situation continues."