A critical economic issue has received little attention in Bangladesh’s media, caught up as it is in election alliances and anti-India politics. On 27 December, the country’s yarn mill owners called an emergency meeting. They appealed to the government to protect Bangladesh’s yarn mills from Indian imports.

Over 80 per cent of the yarn used in Bangladesh’s garment industry comes from India. In other words, Bangladesh’s garment factories depend on India for raw materials. But this does not mean we have no yarn of our own or that Indian yarn is our only option. There are nearly 500 yarn factories in the country’s industrial zones. Yet, cheap Indian yarn imports are pushing these domestic mills toward destruction. In the last fiscal year alone, Indian yarn imports increased by 137 per cent.

Indian yarn is cheaper than locally produced yarn—$2.70 per kilogram compared to $3 per kilogram for domestic yarn. When incentives were in place, the price difference was only 5 cents; now it has widened to 30 cents. Unsurprisingly, garment manufacturers are choosing to buy ‘Delhi’ yarn instead of ‘Dhaka’ yarn to reduce costs. The Bangladesh Textile Mills Association (BTMA) reports that over 50 yarn factories have closed in just one year, causing 150,000–200,000 workers to lose their jobs. In short, domestic yarn mills cannot compete with cheap Indian imports.