Bangladesh plans to restart all fertiliser plants to save Tk 22,000 crore on urea imports

A French buyer has asked a Bangladeshi knitwear factory to hold an order that had already been agreed, as protests across Europe add a new worry to an export trade already struggling with weaker demand and thinner prices.

Fazlee Shamim Ehsan, chief executive of Narayanganj-based Fatullah Fashion Limited and executive president of the Bangladesh Knitwear Manufacturers and Exporters Association, told The Business Standard that the buyer acted on Monday. The buyer, he said, was concerned that drawn-out unrest could weaken Europe's economy, cut households' purchasing power and soften demand for clothing.

The order's size and value have not been disclosed, and it is not yet clear whether the suspension is temporary. Ehsan said he could not say how much of the decision was caused by the protests. Still, he said, the move reflects the mood among buyers.

The unrest has spread across France, Italy, Portugal, Belgium and Spain over living costs, fuel prices, housing, education and public services, according to international media reports. France has banned protests in Paris and three other cities after riots last weekend, and European governments are watching how quickly consumer confidence recovers.

The figures behind the concern are not new. Bangladesh's apparel exports to the European Union fell by about 12 percent year on year in January to August, according to Eurostat data cited by both The Business Standard and Bangla Tribune. The two reports gave slightly different percentages and different figures for the fall in the EU's total apparel imports, which they put at 1.29 percent and 3.83 percent.

Bangla Tribune reported that the value of Bangladesh's apparel shipments to the EU dropped to 11.93 billion euros from 13.50 billion euros a year earlier. It said the volume fell 4.58 percent and the average price per kilogram dropped 7.43 percent, to 13.76 euros, meaning exporters earned less both because they shipped less and because each garment fetched a lower price.

The European Union takes about half of Bangladesh's total exports, according to the Export Promotion Bureau. Yet there are signs of recovery: the bureau's figures show garment exports to the EU rose 3.33 percent to 4.90 billion dollars in July to September of the current financial year, and The Business Standard reported that Bangladesh began regaining market share in August and September.

Industry leaders are divided on how much the protests matter. MA Jabbar, managing director of DBL Group, said Bangladesh already faces intense competition in Europe and that fresh, prolonged instability there would hurt exports. Asif Ashraf of Urmi Group voiced a similar concern. Shovon Islam of Sparrow Group argued that falling orders were driven more by Europe's broader slowdown than by the demonstrations, noting that order flows were also declining in the United States but that Europe was worse.

Costs at home are rising at the same time. The government has withdrawn bonded warehouse facilities for imports of 10 to 30 count yarn used in knitwear, requiring importers to furnish a bank guarantee equal to the value of the yarn. Fakir Kamruzzaman Nahid, managing director of Fakir Fashions, said imported 30-count combed yarn costs 3.15 dollars a kilogram against 3.75 dollars for the local equivalent, and that using domestic yarn would add about 15 cents to the cost of each garment while most European buyers refuse even a one-cent increase.

A new wage increase for garment workers is also pending, with workers demanding a minimum monthly wage of 30,000 taka. Higher wages would lift workers' incomes, but factory owners say the cost can only be absorbed if productivity rises and buyers accept higher prices.

The European Commission forecast in May that EU growth would slow to 1.1 percent in 2026 from 1.5 percent in 2025, with inflation around 3.1 percent. That outlook, rather than the protests alone, may shape how many orders Bangladesh receives in the coming months.

What remains unknown is how many buyers have paused or cancelled orders, what the suspended French order was worth, and whether the unrest will last long enough to change retail buying plans for next season. Exporters say the next month is critical: if the yarn restrictions are not eased, they fear orders that might have come to Bangladesh could move to Vietnam, Cambodia, India or Pakistan, all of which are competing harder for the same European buyers.

Five young tourists drowned at Himchari beach in Cox's Bazar after a strong current swept them away while they were bathing near the Himchari Museum on the Marine Drive, police said, with the last body recovered on Thursday evening.

Ramu police chief AK Fazlul Haq said local people spotted the body of SM Nafisur Rahman Nibir near Bhangar Mor on Kolatali beach at about 7:00pm on Thursday. Beach workers and lifeguards were alerted and officers brought the body ashore, nearly 27 hours after Nibir went missing on Wednesday afternoon.

The body of another member of the group, Md Harun, 20, was found earlier on Thursday at the Sagar Nibas area of Himchari. Police and fire service officials said Harun, from the Bayezid area of Chattogram, was recovered after local people saw him floating in with the tide.

Three others were recovered within hours of Wednesday's accident: Al Mahibul Ibne Mokarem Rohan, 24, and Saibul Haq Jisan, 23, both from Diabari in Uttara, Dhaka, and Akash, 21, from Chattogram's Bayezid. One more tourist was pulled from the water alive and taken to Cox's Bazar Sadar Hospital in a critical condition, said Dolon Acharya, senior station officer of Cox's Bazar Fire Service and Civil Defence.

According to police, two groups were at the beach that afternoon: seven young men from Uttara in Dhaka and five from Bayezid in Chattogram. When one of the Chattogram group was seen going under, the others went into the water to help. None of them knew how to swim, and five were swept away by the current, bdnews24.com reported, citing police.

The group had arrived in Cox's Bazar around 11:30am on Wednesday and checked into a resort near the Himchari Museum on Pechar Dwip around 1:00pm, Ramu Upazila Nirbahi Officer Md Zillur Rahman said. They went into the sea at about 4:00pm.

Himchari lies about nine kilometres south of Cox's Bazar town on the Marine Drive, where the beach narrows between the hills of Himchari National Park and the Bay of Bengal. The accident came in the middle of the Durga Puja holidays, when more than 300,000 tourists were in Cox's Bazar and hotels and resorts across the town were reported to be full.

Imtiaz Ahmed, regional director of the private lifeguard company Sea-Safe, told Prothom Alo that 27 lifeguards cover the roughly five kilometres between Kolatali and Laboni Point, and that there are not enough staff for the long stretch of coast running south through Dariyanagar, Himchari, Patuartek, Inani and Teknaf. He said at least 20 hidden channels have formed off Kolatali, Sugandha and Laboni, including the Himchari-Dariyanagar stretch, and that many bathers ignore the red flags put up at dangerous points.

Zillur Rahman said the beach where the group entered the water is largely secluded, and that local fishermen had repeatedly warned tourists not to go in. The local administration is now working to raise awareness in the area, he added.

It is still unclear whether any warning sign or lifeguard was posted at the spot where the five entered the water, and police have not said whether a case has been filed over the deaths. Early reports also differed on the size and make-up of the group: Prothom Alo described a single group of 12 from Dhaka, while police later spoke of two groups from Dhaka and Chattogram.

The bodies were kept at the Himchari police outpost before being sent to the morgue at Cox's Bazar Sadar Hospital after legal formalities, and police said the usual legal process was under way. Relatives told The Business Standard that Jisan was a computer science student at the Islamic University of Technology and that Rohan was studying for a BBA at the Bangladesh University of Professionals. Nibir was a third-year computer science student at North South University.

The drownings have renewed attention on safety along the southern end of Cox's Bazar's beach, which draws large crowds in the holiday season but has far fewer lifeguards than the main Laboni-Kolatali stretch. On 27 September, a tourist drowned at Laboni Point after being swept away by the sea, according to Prothom Alo. The district administration has not announced any new restriction on bathing, and the holiday season continues.