Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association, the garment makers' platform, has started assessing losses caused by the ongoing blockade.

Factory owners have been asked to inform the trade body of the losses they have incurred so far, BGMEA President Atiqul Islam said.

“We will disclose the findings very soon,” he added.

During the prolonged political crisis in 2013, the BGMEA had taken a similar initiative. The government had also offered incentives to the affected businesses at that time.

In 2013, the BGMEA had collected nine days' data (from Dec 1 to Dec 9) from 21 exporters to assess the overall losses caused by political unrest.

Orders worth $2.40 million were cancelled during the period, while exporters spent $0.9 million on air shipment.

In 2013, the sector had to bear air shipment bills worth Tk 5,000 crore and offer discounts worth Tk 9,000 crore because of political unrest, the BGMEA said in a statement last week.

In the form of penalty for delayed shipment, the exporters saw a price cut by $4.65 million as orders worth $6.6 million were delayed. Losses caused by vandalism and arson were worth $1.9 million, according to the BGMEA.

Real production in the garment sector is valued at Tk 430 crore a day. So, if half a day of production is hampered, output worth Tk 215 crore is damaged, the BGMEA said.

The sector lost Tk 450 crore in the first 12 days of blockade this year, it said.

Some apparel retailers have cancelled their scheduled flights to Dhaka due to a political upheaval and asked their suppliers in Bangladesh to meet them abroad to wrap up work orders. Industry insiders fear a reduction, cancellation and shift of work orders to other countries due to political tensions, said Shahidullah Azim, BGMEA vice-president.

Garment makers or their representatives are travelling to Hong Kong, China, India, Thailand and European nations, spending thousands of dollars, to attend the meetings that were initially planned to take place in Dhaka.

They will have to count losses from discounts to buyers and expensive air shipments to maintain the strict lead-time set by the retailers, according to industry people.