353 factories closed, over 1.1m workers unemployed

In the past year, 353 factories in Savar, Gazipur, Chattogram, Narayanganj, and Narsingdi have been shut down. This has left 119,842 workers unemployed.

Many of them, after unsuccessfully running from place to place in search of jobs, have returned to their villages in despair. Most of the closed factories were in the ready-made garments, knitwear, and textile sectors.

According to the Department of Factory Inspection, Industrial Police, and other relevant sources, factory owners say that strict conditions on bank loans, worker unrest, and other factors are causing industries in the country to shut down. They claim that they are being forced to close factories due to severe crises.

They point to several reasons: worker unrest in factories, high bank interest rates, problems in opening LCs (letters of credit) for importing raw materials, persistent gas shortages in industry, repeated gas price hikes, unreliable electricity supply, and continued increases in worker wages, which have driven production costs so high that many cannot remain competitive.

214 factories closed in Savar

214 factories in the Savar–Ashulia industrial area shut down in the past year—122 permanently and 92 temporarily—leaving around 31,000 workers jobless. Ashulia Industrial Area Police and other sources confirmed this.

According to Mohammad Mominul Islam Bhuiyan, Superintendent of Police of Ashulia Industrial Area Police-1, aside from administrative and political reasons, strict measures on loan defaulters and rising production costs have forced authorities to shut down factories.

In one such factory, 1,765 workers lost their jobs. Jasmine Akter, a worker there, said, “I had been working at the factory since 2010. It closed last February. Since then, I have been unemployed and tried to get jobs in other factories, but our fingerprint access was locked, preventing us from getting work. After protests, the authorities unlocked our fingerprints, but no factories are hiring.”

72 factories closed in Gazipur

Factories are shutting down one by one in the district, increasing unemployment. Without work, some people are getting involved in criminal activities.

According to the Department of Factory Inspection and the Industrial Police, 72 factories have been closed in Gazipur in the past year, including Mahmud Jeans, Dard Composite, Polycon Limited, Textile Fashion, Classic Fashion, and La-Muni Apparels. Around 73,000 workers have lost their jobs.

In February, 13 export-oriented garment factories of the Beximco Group were permanently closed due to financial problems. Md. Ashrafuzzaman, central organizing secretary of the National Garment Workers’ Federation of Bangladesh, said that very few laid-off workers have found jobs in other factories.

The Gazipur office of the Department of Factory Inspection said that 43 factories closed in January alone. The remaining factories, including the 13 of Beximco, shut down in the last six months. Altogether, 73,103 workers lost their jobs. Most closures were due to lack of work, order cancellations, and financial crises.

21 factories closed in Chattogram

In Chattogram, 21 factories closed in the past year, leaving at least 10,000 workers in shipbreaking and other industries unemployed.

Since 2005, 416 factories in the ready-made garment and shipbreaking sectors have shut down. According to BGMEA, in 2005, 610 of Chattogram’s 699 registered garment factories were operational, but now only 350 remain.

The remaining 260 have closed, including 14 last year and 7 in the first seven months of this year. Several shipbreaking factories have also closed, and many others have reduced their workforce.

26 garment factories closed in Narayanganj

In Narayanganj, of the 1,834 garment factories in the district, 26 have permanently closed in the past year, leaving 5,342 workers unemployed.

These include major factories such as Knit Garden, AK Fashion Ltd., La Maison Kochur Ltd., and Molla Knit Fashion.

Analysis shows most closures were due to financial crises and insufficient work orders. Additionally, 19 factories temporarily shut down in the past year, and several announced layoffs. However, the Department of Factory Inspection’s Narayanganj office reports different figures: they claim that out of 1,010 registered garment factories, only 9 permanently closed last year.

According to BKMEA Vice-President Morshed Sarwar Sohel, some factories were already on the brink of closure. The trend began during the previous government’s tenure, worsened by the Ukraine–Russia war, rising bank interest rates, and declining orders. Without a stable environment in the country, more factories are likely to close in the future.

20 factories closed in Narsingdi

In Narsingdi, Hamid Fabrics Ltd., in Shilmandi, used to employ about 1,400 workers, officers, and staff. One and a half months ago, the factory announced a layoff (temporary closure).

The factory cited gas shortages, but other reasons include inability to pay back wages. Following demands from the district administration, factory inspectors, industrial police, and worker protests, the management is currently paying workers without requiring them to work—but this may only continue for another 15 days.

If the factory cannot recover, it may permanently close, despite being one of the district’s most modern and well-maintained facilities.

According to the Department of Factory Inspection’s Narsingdi office, the district has 2,251 factories: 40 large, 71 medium, and 2,140 small. Of these, 20 small factories have shut down, leaving about 500 workers unemployed.