Towards an Estimation of Cloth Supply in Bangladesh : 1955/56-1986/87
Muhammad Abdul Latif
Abstract
The present paper is basically a statistical exercise for estimating cloth supplies in Bangladesh during the period 1955/56-1986/87. In this paper, we have estimated the supplies of cloth by taking into account domestic production and imports. Cotton, non-cotton, and second-hand clothing, have all been covered. The data on domestic mill production, and imports of cotton, non-cotton, and of second-hand textiles are available from secondary sources. Whilst the production of the handloom sector (which currently accounts for 69% of the total cloth supply in Bangladesh), factory sub-sector, and unorganised small powerlooms have all been estimated in this paper. An attempt has also been made to assess the smuggling in/out of various textile products. It has been seen that the total supply of cloth (all types) has increased from an average of 477 million yards per year during 1955/56-1959/60 to 989 million yards during 1985/86-1986/87. Per capita availability of cloth has increased slowly over time but still remains at a very low level (around 10 yards).