"Buyers not paying premium prices but taking credit for sourcing from green factories: experts" 30 January 2022

Bangladesh’s apparel makers...said global fashion brands were not willing to pay premium prices for products despite taking credit for sourcing from green factories.

Bangladesh readymade garment sector has the highest number of green factories in the world but no buyer pays additional one cent for the environment-friendly production, they said at the launching programme of ‘Securing Green Transition of the Textile and Readymade Garments Sector in Bangladesh’ at BRAC Centre Inn in the capital, Dhaka...

Speakers at the event identified lack of policy support, financing and premium prices for the products as the key challenges for securing green transition of the clothing and textile sector...

‘Global buyers and brands are taking credit for sourcing from environment-friendly factories, but they are not providing premium prices,’ Fazlul said.

The government has extended a green fund but the fund remains unused as new entrepreneurs cannot avail the fund due to some conditions, he said...

BKMEA executive president Mohammad Hatem said that RMG entrepreneurs are not getting adjusted prices for their products, let alone the premium prices for the goods produced in a social and environmental way as Bangladeshi suppliers get only 10-15 per cent of the retail price of a T-shirt sold in the Western markets.

‘No price adjustment from buyers, for both regular production method and eco-friendly one acts as hindrance to embracing green transition by RMG entrepreneurs in Bangladesh,’ he said.

He said that green building required 15-20 per cent more cost than the normal building, but entrepreneurs were not getting green finance loan due to various conditions.

[...]