Frequent power outage is hitting hard the apparel factories in Narayanganj, pushing production costs up, said manufacturers.
They also said the erratic power supply has resulted in decline in production volumes in the factories based in Narayanganj BSCIC Industrial Area.
The manufacturers said they face power outage for four to five hours a day on an average.
They said the factories use petroleum fuel-run power generators during power cut but the alternative system is pushing costs of production up.
Moreover, factory owners often find it difficult to maintain shipment schedule following decline in production volume.
If the situation continues, the country's apparel especially knit factories will lose competitiveness in the global market, exporters warned.
Talking to this correspondent during a visit to Narayanganj last week, Ibrabim Khalil, chairman of Pantex Dress Ltd, said the erratic power supply has severely affected the normal production at his unit. "I have to spend around Tk 20,000 on running generators a day."
Moreover, he said, with the fuel price soaring it is difficult to run factories. "The main problem is that I cannot maintain the shipment schedule. I have to arrange the shipment by air, resulting in rise in production cost."
Anwar Hossain, director of Scarlet Knitwears Ltd, said they have to pay $3.60 for per kg goods as air space fare, which was below $2 earlier. "
Md Feroz Wahid, chairman of Fashion Compiler Ltd, said he has to buy a new 110KV power generator at a cost of Tk12 lakh to maintain his production. His factory has also another 100KV power generator.
A production manager of Moqbul Hosiery and Garments said due to frequent power crisis production volume at his unit has reduced to 4,500 -5,000 pieces of apparel items from 6,000 pieces.
