Gas supply improves, no garment factory closed: BGMEA

Gas supply to the garment industry has improved in recent days, while no apparel factory has so far closed due to the ongoing energy crisis, Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) President Mahmud Hasan Khan said on Thursday.

However, the actual impact of the energy crisis on the garment sector may become clear only after another three to four months, he said.

“Gas supply has improved. Compared with the last few days, the supply is now higher. No factory has closed due to the electricity or fuel crisis. The impact of the fuel crisis will be understood after at least three months,” Mahmud Hasan Khan told a press conference at the BGMEA Complex in Uttara.

BGMEA has also demanded priority in gas connections and rationing for SME factories, priority connections for factories with 100-500 PSI boilers, low-interest green loans for renewable energy projects and accelerated gas exploration in coastal areas.

The press conference was organised to discuss Batexpo 2026, the upcoming Hong Kong roadshow and the current situation of the apparel industry.

BGMEA has also demanded priority in gas connections and rationing for SME factories, priority connections for factories with 100-500 PSI boilers, low-interest green loans for renewable energy projects and accelerated gas exploration in coastal areas.

The BGMEA president said the impact of any shock on the garment industry was not immediately visible and that a factory could not take a closure decision overnight.

“About six months of planning is required to close a factory because several issues have to be considered, including completing orders in the pipeline, paying workers their legal compensation and meeting ongoing obligations to banks,” he said.

According to BGMEA information, no garment factory has closed because of the energy crisis over the past two months. However, the actual impact of the crisis is expected to become clearer in the next three to four months.

He also cautioned against attributing every factory closure to the current energy crisis, saying a factory that closes now because of an incident or problem dating back six months or a year should not automatically be considered a casualty of the present fuel crisis.

Mahmud said lower gas pressure had severely disrupted dyeing, washing and other backward-linkage industries.

Following a recent meeting between the business community and the prime minister, the government announced that industrial gas supply would be restored to previous levels, and the decision has now been implemented, he said.

Normally, garment factories operate for around eight to 10 hours a day. But because of the energy crisis, many factories had to spend nearly five additional hours to complete production and use alternative fuels, increasing their operating costs.

Despite the higher costs, entrepreneurs continued efforts to meet shipment deadlines, he said.

The BGMEA president stressed the need for short-, medium- and long-term plans to ensure stable gas supplies to industries. The association has already made a presentation to the Energy Ministry on the issue.

“If the plan is implemented, we believe the major energy problems can be resolved within the next two years,” he said.

To strengthen energy security, BGMEA has sought two additional floating storage and regasification units (FSRUs), while emphasising land-based LNG storage terminals as a long-term solution.

Mahmud said Bangladesh had already signed a government-to-government agreement with China to bring in an FSRU.
“Beyond this, we want to move towards land-based storage rather than bringing in multiple FSRUs,” he said.