Covid squeezes the life force out of small and medium players?

COVID-19 fallouts are making survival difficult for SMEs. It’s not that things are much different for the bigger players but if industry insiders are to be believed,large garment factories are faring comparatively better when it comes to getting orders owing to their better coping mechanisms stemming from their large production facilities and also the fact that they are able to access financial aid from the Government’s stimulus package, which places them in a little better position as compared to the smaller players. Even as the Managing Director of APT Sweater Ltd, a small garment exporter based in Kamarpara area in Dhaka, Naim Bazlul Karim, said he faced a significant loss as his factory was closed for three months from April to June while during this period, he did not even get the subcontracting orders from large factories as the bigger industrial units were also suffering from shortage of orders from the global retailers. “I have been trying to get back more work orders from my buyers,”reportedly said Karim, who employs around 150 workers and has terminated none of them despite the closure of the factory for three months. Meanwhile, speaking to the media, BGMEA President, Dr. Rubana Huq said the SMEs were the worst-affected when it comes to managing finance and business since they worked for buyers having relatively smaller turnovers while also agreeing that when it came to a single policy serving both the big units and SMEs, there was a gap. To read the full article, click @ Apparel Resources