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AyRojgar
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What went wrongThe owner of a garment factory in Mirpur, Dhaka, in a Prothom Alo report · Started in 2009

Exports fall from 41 lakh dollars to 17 lakh, and a 19-year factory shuts

Started in 2009 with 26 lakh taka of second-hand machines. Exports peaked at 41 lakh US dollars in 2023 and fell to 17 lakh by 2025; the factory closed in August 2026 with nine months of rent unpaid.

This owner set up a garment factory in Mirpur, Dhaka, in 2009 with 26 lakh taka, all of it spent on used machines; a partnership factory he had started in 2006 had already collapsed inside two and a half years. Exporting to Europe, the unit peaked in 2023 at 41 lakh US dollars, about 44.28 crore taka. Exports then fell to 25 lakh dollars in 2024 and 17 lakh in 2025. The minimum wage rose from 8,000 to 12,500 taka in December 2023 while buyers refused to pay more, and gas shortages, thinner order books and unavailable bank credit closed in around that. Rent on the factory went nine months unpaid, and in August 2026 the 19-year-old business shut, putting 177 workers and 13 staff out of work. He is now trying to sell the factory.

Lessons

  1. 1.When the buyers in your one export market refuse to absorb a wage rise, the whole cost shock lands on the owner
  2. 2.Nineteen years of trading is no protection: nine months of rent arrears means the landlord is financing the factory

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

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