87% knitwear exporters faced shipment delays due to gas crisis, 60% offered discounts: Survey
87% of exporters faced shipment delays, while 60% had to offer discounts to buyers.
Around 55% of knitwear exporters have reported cancelled or reduced export orders due to gas and electricity shortages, according to a survey by the Bangladesh Knitwear Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BKMEA).
The association disclosed the findings today (15 September), saying 87% of exporters had failed to make shipments on time since the gas crisis began on 20 July, followed by an electricity crisis. Nearly 60% were forced to offer discounts to foreign buyers due to the delays.
The survey was based on information collected from 134 of BKMEA's 800 active export-oriented member factories.
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The survey found that 75% of respondents were affected by the gas crisis, while 90% faced disruptions due to electricity shortages.
Gas pressure during the period was 78% lower than normal, according to the survey conducted from 21 July 2026 to 7 September.
"Almost all respondents are facing a crisis due to shortages of gas and power supply. Production has fallen by one-third to one-half, which is having adverse impacts, including shipment delays, additional fuel costs and a loss of buyers' confidence in doing business with suppliers," Fazlee Shamim Ehsan, executive president of BKMEA, told The Business Standard.
Explaining his own situation, Ehsan, managing director of Fatullah Apparels, said, "Our factory was forced to airfreight around $50,000 worth of export goods as we did not receive the raw materials on time due to the gas crisis, which incurred a huge loss for us."
"We also failed to ship another consignment on time, and we fear that the export order may be cancelled. We are currently in discussions with our EU buyers to prevent order cancellations," said Ehsan, the owner of the Narayanganj-based, US-GBC-certified green factory, adding, "We were forced to pay extra to buy diesel to keep our operations running."
He also said, "We had to pay workers' wages for about 14 days even though there was no work due to a shortage of raw materials."
Mohammad Hatem, president of BKMEA, also faced order losses as buyers lost confidence in doing business with his factory.
"We received orders for 40 lakh T-shirts instead of the expected 62 lakh pieces, which is about one-third less than the expected volume," Hatem told TBS. "Buyers are losing confidence in doing business with Bangladeshi suppliers and are cautious about placing full orders, fearing the ongoing energy crisis."
The survey stated that around 92% of factories incurred additional costs for alternative fuel, while a similar proportion reported losing working hours due to gas and power shortages.
More than three-quarters of factory owners said they had to partially shut down production, while 7% reported completely shutting down their factories due to different reasons.
Fazlee Shamim Ehsan said, "The survey has proved that no factory was shut down due to the temporary fuel crisis.
"The survey also proves that this temporary problem can be overcome if the government provides policy support."
Around 89% of factory owners said the crisis had increased the risk of losing the confidence of foreign buyers.
Six in 10 exporters said the crisis had increased the risk of loan defaults.
More than half of the respondents reported cancelled or reduced export orders, highlighting the impact of prolonged energy shortages on the country's knitwear export sector.
Bangladesh faced a prolonged gas crisis from July 21 due to failure of a FSRU in Coxsbazar.
As of filing this report, the gas crisis was still continuing in the country's major industrial areas. However, the situation in Chattogram had improved somewhat, according to entrepreneurs in the area. Industries in Sylhet and Bhola were also receiving normal gas supplies.
Outside these areas, however, industries as well as households across the country were still facing an acute gas shortage.
The situation has been compounded by power load-shedding. Reports indicate that industrial areas have been experiencing load-shedding for seven to nine hours a day.
On Monday, the prime minister assured business leaders that the gas supply situation would improve from last night.
Meanwhile, although apparel industry owners have claimed that export orders are declining, TBS recently spoke to representatives of at least four Dhaka-based buyers, all of whom said their orders remained normal. One buyer representative even said they had recently expanded business in Bangladesh.
Bangladesh's exports performed encouragingly in July and August, according to data from the Export Promotion Bureau (EPB).
