Home ›› 23 Jul 2022 ›› Front
The United State has taken a hard line on protecting Uyghur Muslim community in Chinese Xinjiang province and warned Bangladesh not to use cotton of the region in export-oriented readymade garment and textile factories.
The US warns that if Xinjiang cotton is used in products that are exported to US, it will seize those goods and exporters will not be eligible for making any claim.
The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) officials issued this warning when they met at meetings of the apparel and textile related apex bodies of different tiers recently, according to the industry leaders.
The US agency expressed its intention to help Bangladesh identify the origin of the cotton.
Officials said the USAID is highly interested to set up a laboratory where exporters will be able to identify the source of the cotton. The USAID will receive fees for the proposed lab test.
The fashion industry will be particularly affected by the US moves. About 20 per cent of the world’s cotton comes from China and 84 per cent of it comes from Xinjiang.
The US formed the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA), which came into force this June 21, assumes that any product partly or wholly made in Xinjiang, north-west China, is linked to the region’s labour camps.
Since 2017, the Chinese authorities have detained as many as one million Uyghur Muslims and subjected them
to forced labour, according the Guardian report.
US officials have said members of the minority Uyghur community in the region, who are predominantly Muslims, have been detained and made to work. China has repeatedly rejected accusations that it is holding Uyghur Muslims in internment camps in Xinjiang.
The Bangladesh Garment Buying House Association (BGBA) President Kazi Iftekhar Hossain told The Business Post that some officials of Indo-Pacific Opportunity Project (IPOP) met him.
During this meeting, they warned that if Bangladeshi exporters export any China’s Shenzhen cotton-based clothes to the US, the whole consignment will be forfeited and the exporters will not be eligible to claim payments for it.
The IPOP is implemented by the International Development Group and funded by the USAID.
The US is the largest apparel market for Bangladesh and the country exported $9.01 billion readymade garments in the last fiscal year. The Bangladesh Knitwear Manufacturers and Exporters Association Vice-President Fazlee Shamim Ehsan told The Business Post that they also wanted to protect human rights but didn’t agree to pay for lab test.
“We think that this move is just a part of the US-China trade war and to execute it the US government should pay all expense of tests.
The move is not enough to protect Uyghur Muslims until the western community ban apparel import from China. After the move China has already started exporting Xinjiang cotton to Asian market, he added.
Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) President Faruque Hassan told The Business Post that they were also making their members aware of the presence of China’s Xinjiang cotton before import.
“However, we are worried about the move of the US government. But we believe that the Chinese suppliers will not betray us because we have been long-time business partners and want to go a long way.”
“We have no way other than being alert about the presence of Xinjiang cotton before importing fabrics,” Faruque added.
Industry leaders said most of knitwear manufacturers collect yarn and fabrics from domestic source. On the other hand, Bangladesh import its maximum cotton from India, US, Canada and Brazil. To avoid any unexpected situation, Bangladesh avoids Xinjiang cotton.
On the other hand, Bangladesh woven sector is highly dependent on Chinese fabrics and second largest fabric supplier is Vietnam. Besides, a good volume of fabrics come from Indonesia.
Although most of Bangladeshi big-sized woven manufacturing factories get fabric’s gene tested to confirm absence of China’s Xinjiang cotton a small number of exporters depend on fabrics suppliers’ declaration.
Besides, before importing Vietnam and Indonesia’s fabrics, many apparel manufacturers are not careful about justifying its cotton sourcing.
Md Khosru Chowdhury, Managing Director of Nipa Group told The Business Post, “Most of the largest exporters have enough time and money to test the origin of the cotton. But small exporters have to depend on their Chinese suppliers. It is a risky point to us.”
“But to continue business with the US, our largest export destination country, we have to maintain its rules,” he added.
