Gas crisis has badly hit the Bangladesh textile sector as over 60 percent of its spinning industry is on the verge of closure. The crisis started hitting the industry in March this year and has progressively accelerated.
Bangladesh has in recent decades enhanced its spinning capacities to almost the same level as that of Pakistan. Spinning mills consume high power .Most spinning mills used the cheap gas to generate power which reduced their power cost. Due to gas shortage the production of the industry declined by 35-40 percent according to the president Bangladesh Textile Mills Association Mohammad Ali Khoton. He said the mills failed to execute $1 billion orders due to the crisis.
The BTMA president distributed a paper titled Energy issue to the media which revealed that the basic textile sector is being supplied gas for 12 hours per day. This increased the production of yarn two fold to $25 per kg. This he added impacted the competitiveness of the industry. He warned that many factories would close and may default on their bank loans.
