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Mixed experienceBatik workshop owners in Kamalpur village, Cumilla, in a Samakal report

60-70 taka of profit a piece, yet workshop owners are leaving batik

Kamalpur village turns over 40-45 crore taka a year across 15-20 batik workshops. One owner makes 60-70 taka a piece, but the cost of cloth and chemicals and a shortage of artisans are pushing others out of the trade.

Kamalpur village in Adarsha Sadar upazila of Cumilla has made batik cloth since 1971 and now turns over 40-45 crore taka a year across 15-20 workshops, selling into Dhaka, Chattogram, Sylhet and Narsingdi and, through companies, into export orders. One workshop owner buys plain cloth from mills in Narayanganj and Narsingdi, keeps 50 workers and makes 60-70 taka of profit on each piece. Dye artisans are paid by output and can take 800-1,000 taka a day; a pattern designer gets 20 taka a garment and does 30-40 garments a day. A workshop turns out 500-600 pieces in three or four days, and wholesale prices run 700-1,100 taka for sarees, 600-800 for three-piece sets, 800-1,200 for shawls and 200-400 for lungis. Yet another owner says that between the price of cloth, the price of chemicals and the shortage of artisans the numbers no longer work, and many are leaving batik. The village total keeps rising while individual workshops close.

Lessons

  1. 1.A 60-70 taka margin a piece only works at volume: when cloth and chemical prices rise, the small workshop loses its margin first
  2. 2.Judge the trade by what one owner makes per piece, not by the 40-45 crore taka the village turns over

Published with the person's permission, without revealing who they are.

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