Home ›› 17 Oct 2022 ›› Nation
Tupi (cap) makers in Rangpur region are facing huge difficulties to run their business due to the shrinking of export volume amid the downturn of the global economy.
Sources said increased prices of the raw materials, wages of the weavers and devaluation of national currency in the international market have made the situation worsened.
Factory owners and exporters of the districts have sought government assistance to sustain trade and business amid the global recession.
The hand-made craft mainly fabricated by the rural women of Rangpur and Lalmonirhat districts has been exported to Middle East countries including Oman for the last twenty years.
M H Tupi factory owner Hafez Abdul Auwal at Balapara union of Kawnia upazila has been making the product since 2002. It started to export the product to Oman in 2005. The factory has engaged around ten thousand village women including school-college-going girls for knitting the cap.
The factory director Mahamudul Hasan said the company has earned a reputation for producing Tupi at home and abroad. He had engaged 52 supervisors in the factory under whom around 100-300 female workers are working to fabricate export-quality Tupi. The factory used to export at least three consignments of products in the years before Covid -19 crisis. They could export around fifteen thousand pieces of Tupi in a season during the month of Ramadan.
The corona situation halted the export and business incurring huge losses. They tried to turn around the business after the pandemic. But increased prices of the products’ ingredients including cloth, thread, labour wages, and the ongoing global recession due to the Russia – Ukraine war have once again hit the growth of the business.
He also said the production cost of the cap has increased much at present. The fabrication of an export-quality item needs often numerous skilled workers. Earlier, it costs a maximum of Tk 800 per piece which has increased now about Tk 1300- 1400. The workers’ wage was Tk 500 earlier while it costs now Tk 800 -1000. Printing and embroidery expenditure has also been doubled.
“Moreover, we have to export the product at the previous rates as the buyers in Oman have not yet increased the price. So, the turnover of the export has shrunk. It becomes tough for us to sustain the business despite huge demand for the product in international markets,’’ he added.
He urged the government to provide an incentive package for the small cottage industry to overcome the crisis.
Another entrepreneur of the upazila Jahiruddin made a similar observation saying they are not getting the benefits as before exporting the craft to the Middle East countries. The fabrication cost of the product has become high.
The trade, however, has made significant contributions to creating huge employment prospects for the poor and vulnerable village women in the districts by which they can help maintain their families.
He said Pakistan use to export the highest consignment of Tupi to Oman. Bangladesh is next to Pakistan shipping the product. The quality of the yarn is better and the price is cheap in Pakistan compared to Bangladesh. So, Pakistani product has occupied the biggest market in Oman.
BRAC and Islami Bank Ltd sanctioned small loans for the factories which are not enough and helpful for the business as the interest is high. Bank loans on easy terms and interest need to be introduced to expand the business. He also urged the government to pay special packages of incentives to the entrepreneurs to sustain the growth of the industry.
When this correspondent visited Lalmonirht Sadar found that most of the village women were engaged in Tupi fabrication.
Aysha Begum, 50, a widow at Harishor village of the upazila said she has only 4 decimal homestead lands. She once had to face severe hardship along with her three children after her husband’s death. They had to remain starved and half-fed very often. Later, she went to the Hafej Auwal Tupi factory and received training in cap making. She started to work as a supervisor and got Tk50 for each cap as a commission. In this way, she was earning at least Tk, 5000every month. But her income is declining as the factories cannot export the product properly.
Rangpur Chamber of Commerce and Industry President Mostafa Sohrab Chowdhury Titu said Tupi fabrication is an excellent venture for the hard-core village women and school-college girls in rural areas of the Rangpur region. The trade has got huge potential to have an International market.
