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Bangladesh Textile Mills Association (BTMA) leaders have urged the government to fix the bank interest rate at single digit and extend the duration of installment repayment facility for additional 10 years.
They said the country's primary textile millers have been hit hard by misuse of bonded warehouse facilities as yarn, fabric and other dress-making materials imported under misdeclaration and duty-free facilities have been flooding the local market.
They also expressed fear of possible shutdown of many textile mills ahead of the Eid-ul-Fitr in absence of new work orders, which may result in unemployment of tens of thousands of workers.
The demand and fear were expressed at a meeting with Prime Minister's private industry and investment affairs advisor Salman F Rahman in the city on Sunday, says a statement.
BTMA President Mohammad Ali Khokhon, vice-presidents Alamgir Shamsul Alamin, Abdullah Al Mamun and Abdullah Al Mahmud, and its former presidents Tapan Chowdhury, Jahangir Alamin and Mohammad Shahjahan were present at the meeting.
Quoting the BTMA president, the statement said the local spinning and weaving mills are at risk of closure as they are not getting fair prices for yarn and fabric produced by them because the items imported under misdeclaration and duty-free import facilities have been flooding the local market.
The BTMA chief noted that sale of local yarn and fabric has also declined drastically. As a result 50 to 60 per cent of the looms remained closed for a long time, he said.
Woven dying mills have reduced their capacity below 40 per cent while export-oriented spinning mills are forced to sell their products at a low rate compared to their production cost resulting in huge stockpiling of yarn and fabric, he noted.
"If the situation prolongs, factories may be unable to pay wages," he said, cautioning "Rather they will be closed down due to liquidity crisis."
Khokhon urged the government to fix the bank interest rate at single digit and extend the installment repayment time to additional 10 years, continuation of 15 per cent tax rate till 2028, and inclusion of yarn and fabric as VAT exempted items.
The BTMA's other demands included increasing the cash incentive to 7.0 per cent from existing 4.0 per cent, strong monitoring to stop import under mis-declaration and misuse of the bonded warehouse facilities.