Improved gas supplies Bangladesh government finally managed to improve gas supplies to the textile sector, giving hope to its apparel exporters to execute summer orders on schedule.
Apparel exporters say that they can now confidently accept higher orders from top brands that were constantly asking them to confirm timely deliveries. They are now confident that with the improvement in the energy and power situation the industry would be back to normal in a few months.
TEXtalks International correspondent in interaction with several exporters was informed that the gas supplies to their units in winter months are much improved than in July and August this year!
Leading apparel units established at Gazipur’s Maona to Mymensingh’s Bhaluka belt confirmed that the gas supply has improved.
An industry leader also said that in some areas of Narayanganj there is an improvement in gas supply.
There are still some apparel clusters where the gas supply has not improved to the desired level. These regions include the Savar, Ariahazar area of Narayanganj, Manikganj, and some areas of Gazipur where garment factories are concentrated.
Bangladesh’s planners made the availability of higher gas supplies to the apparel units through several belt-tightening measures the state-owned Petrobangla claims. These measures included power rationing and rescheduling office hours.
An official of Petrobangla conceded that some industries located at the end of the supply line may face gas shortage issues, but by and large, the problem is resolved for the majority of apparel producers.
The government plans to import more LNG before March next year when domestic power demand would start increasing. Bangladesh imports six cargoes of LNG every month from Qatar and Oman. Petrobangla is planning to increase it to eight cargoes per month from March 2023.
