Bangladesh has already started feeling the pinch of the global economic crisis, with 30% of export orders in the garment sector cancelled this year.

“We’ve started feeling the pinch and we’ll be able to come up with a clear picture about it by mid-January 2009,” Bangladesh Knitwear Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BKMEA) president Fazlul Haque told journalists yesterday at a press conference.
The press conference was arranged ahead of the ‘Knit+tex Bangladesh 2008 International Expo’ beginning in Dhaka Friday (Nov 28).
BKMEA and Conference & Exhibition Management Services (CEMS) will jointly organise the 3-day exhibition at Bangladesh China Friendship Conference Centre.
“Most of the cancelled export orders came from India and China,” Fazlul Haque said adding that buyers from the USA and the UK were also delaying taking their shipments.
“We are in trouble, as buyers are neither canceling their orders nor confirming that they would take the items,” he said.
The BKMEA president, however, alleged that the buyers were trying to create pressure in the name of global recession to get concessions.
A total of 75 exhibitors from over 10 countries will participate in the exhibition that will run from 10.30am to 7.30pm everyday