Garment makers demand fair price from EU retailers

Garment makers yesterday asked European retailers to pay prices which are proportionate with the rising costs of production at factory level.

The exporters raised the issue of fair price at a meeting with the visiting European Union parliamentary delegation in Dhaka.

The cost of production has been increasing by the year at the factories but the prices for per piece of garment remained the same for years or even declined in some cases, Atiqul Islam, president of Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association, said after the meeting.

After the industrial disasters of Tazreen fire and Rana Plaza collapse, a lot of progress has taken place in workplace safety and compliance in the garment sector, Islam said at the meeting.

The delegation also wanted to know about the status of factory inspection by Accord and Alliance. Both the agencies have completed their primary inspection of about 1,700 factories in September last year.

Now the Accord and Alliance are monitoring the progresses made on the feedback given after the primary round of inspections.

The EU is an important trading partner for Bangladesh as 60 percent of the country's exports are destined to this bloc every year.

Officials from different ministries and the US embassy in Dhaka were also present at the meeting.