Eid clothing sales worth Tk20bn lost in pandemic

The fashion house 'Poroshmoni' in Chattogram's Teri Bazar is usually abuzz with customers before and during Ramadan every year. The shop this year has invested Tk5 crore and brought local and foreign products meant for Eid sales. But the coronavirus-induced countrywide shutdown has impeded business at the market as buyers from different districts cannot turn up.         

Like 'Poroshmoni', nearly 2,000 clothing stores at Teri Bazar — the largest clothing wholesale market in Chattogram — have remained shuttered since the government shutdown, leaving nearly 12,000 salesmen to spend idle times.    

Traders said Eid sales are the market's lifeblood. They are bracing for big losses in an unprecedented turn of events as the market was closed before and even in Ramadan with no sign of the pandemic slowing down in Bangladesh. 

Fashion houses of the market used to collect clothing through bank loans from different parts of the country at least two months prior to Ramadan. Several shopping malls and traders from other districts would buy their fashion items from the wholesale market before the holy month for Muslims.        

The market traders' union leader, Mohammad Ismail, said nearly 80 percent of traders at the market are wholesalers. As in previous years, they collected clothing two months prior to Ramadan. 

"But buyers from different districts cannot come to Chattogram due to the lockdown and suspension of transport," he added.

The union sources said 70 percent of clothing comes from Tangail, Sirajganj, Narsingdi, Dhaka and Pabna. Teri Market wholesalers bring 20 percent of clothing from India and 10 percent from China.  

Buyers from three Chattogram Hill Tracts districts, Feni, Noakhali, Lakshmipur, Cumilla, Brahmanbaria and Cox's Bazar used to flock to the wholesale market before Ramadan.      

The market had a sales of more than Tk2,000 crore, or Tk 20 billion, in the last season.     

Teri Bazar traders' union general secretary Abdul Mannan said the sales at the market basically depend on Eid celebrations.

"The sales centering on the two Eids are the lifeblood of the market," said Mannan, adding that clothing this year too from both inside and outside the country was on bank loans.     

"The extended shutdown has put us in a fix. We have applied to the local administration and chamber to allow the market to open on a limited scale before Eid," he said.

The businessman believes small-scale operations from 8 am to 2 pm everyday will help recover the losses sustained by wholesalers.

Apart from mounting losses, traders say they have been paying utility bills, shop rents and salaries of salesmen. They also demand a waiver on loan instalments for three months and loans on flexible terms in light of the government's announcement of stimulus packages for businessmen.

Main Uddin, a trader at the market, said his shop and warehouse were packed with clothing meant for Eid sales. The trader said he will not be able to sell all the stocks before Eid if the market even resumes now on a limited-scale.