Covid shatters dream of Sirajganj yarn mill owner

Haji Nannu set up a yarn processing mill in Sirajganj's Belkuchi upazila three years ago after returning from abroad. He invested all the money in the mill that he had earned while working as a migrant worker in South Korea. 

But the pandemic has shattered his dream.

After the Covid outbreak in March last year, Nannu's mill fell into a crisis as business of the local weaving industry in Sirajganj dipped. 

His mill processes yarn that is the main raw material for the weaving industry. 

But as weavers shut their factories, Nannu had to follow suit as orders for processed yarn declined to almost zero.

Now he is afraid that the mill will have to be closed permanently.

"Once this factory used to be filled with yarn ordered by weavers, " said Nannu, owner of Mama Vagne Process Mill. 

He opened the mill on 7 August for the first time after Eid-ul-Adha and received an order. 

"It is a very small order. It will take only three days to get the yern ready. Then my workers will sit idle and wait for new orders," Nannu lamented. 

He said, "Since the mill was getting few orders, I ran the mill three days a week from the beginning of Covid-19 till last Eid-ul-Fitr. After keeping it closed for two consecutive months, I opened the mill only for several days before Eid-ul-Adha."

The mill has 16 workers who have been struggling to make a living. 

"I am worried about the fate of the mill, where my initial investment was Tk15 lakh. Now, I have a debt of Tk32 lakh. And I am yet to get Tk15 lakh from some weavers who purchased yarn from my mill," he said.

Raw white yarn purchased from the market comes first in the processing mill. The yarn is processed with chemicals and boiled in the mill. The loom owners purchase the processed yarn and dye it as per the demand. They produce sari, lungi and gamcha from that yarn. 

There are at least 50 yarn processing mills in Belkuchi upazila. All the mill owners have been experiencing the same crisis as Nannu.

Sajid Musulli, manager of Mama Vagne Process Mill, said, "Prices of dyes, yarns and chemicals have been high for a long time. After Eid-ul-Adha, the prices increased again. However, the cloth markets are closed due to Covid-19. As a result, weaving products are not being sold. In this situation, most of the owners have closed their weaving factories. So, there is almost no demand for yarn processing. Having no income, I am running my family on loan."

Rawshan Ali Mir, assistant manager of the mill, said, "I had started a weaving factory with a capital of Tk20 lakh. Due to the increase in prices of dyes, yarns and chemicals, I was forced to shut my factory within one year. After that, I took a job here. But this is also on the verge of closure." 

Shukur Ali, a mill worker, said his debt to the NGOs and grocery shops had been gradually increasing. "I can earn Tk2,000 per week if the mill is open. But if it is closed, I get nothing. I have no other way to feed my family."