The soaring price of yarn in the last six months has hit very hard the handloom owners and artisans already suffering from tough competition from power looms, forcing even more handloom units to close down all around the country.
According to local businessmen in Narsingdi, in the last two years 15,000 of the 20,000 handlooms that were operating in 2008 have been shut down, with 6,000 being shut down in the last six months.
Abdur Razzak of Abdullahpur in Raipur upazila of Narsingdi, is a telling example of the problem. He told New Age that he had 600 handlooms but in recent months he was forced to close down 450 of them due to the high price of yarn.
The same problem exists in Sirajganj.
MA Baten, general secretary of the Sirajganj district unit of the Bangladesh Handloom and Power Loom Owners Association, told New Age that according to his estimate the increased price of yarn had resulted in the closure of 50 per cent of the handlooms in his district.
Osman Gani of Shibpur village of Shahzadpur upazila in the district is the owner of 17 handlooms, of which he shut down 12 a year ago, and in the last six months the rising yarn price had forced him to stop using three more handlooms.
Handloom owners in various parts of the country have all told New Age the same story, with many saying that the traditional handlooms industry is, as a result, in a very vulnerable state now.
Saris, lungis, handkerchiefs and gamchhas (locally made towels) are the main products made by handlooms. The chief areas of operation are Sirajganj, Pabna, Narsingdi, Tangail, Kushtia and Narayanganj.
The handloom sector mostly uses yarns of 40, 40/1, 50, 50/1, 60, 60/1, 80, and 80/1 count to make their products.
Ayub Ali Khan, general secretary of the Handloom and Power Loom Owners Association, told New Age that the price of 60/1 count yarn has increased to Tk 210 from Tk 110 per pound in the last six months — an increase of almost 100 per cent.
Yarn of 50/1 count cost about Tk 85 six months ago but the price has now increased to Tk 175, an increase of over 100 per cent.
He added that prices of the other yarns had increased in a similar manner.
Ayub claimed that the increase in prices in the local market was much higher than the increase in the international market.
Traders are forced to sell their products below the actual production cost, he said. ‘Now we have to face a loss of Tk 25 on an average for each item we sell,’ said Ayub.
Those involved in the handloom sector said that the tradition of weaving cloth by hand constitutes one of the richest aspects of Bangladeshi culture and heritage, with many of the clothes being commonly worn by poor women and men.
Some of the traders from Sirajganj and Narsingdi claimed that many handloom workers were becoming day labourers, and that even some owners of handloom factories face the same fate.
Nuruzzaman, a resident of Hajipur char of Narsingdi Sadar upazila, owned seven looms last year but was compelled to sell all of them to pay off his debt, and is now living a very difficult life.
