• Factory employees are fully vaccinated and therefore the spread of Covid-19 among them was minimal
• Factories were operating in accordance with health protocols to a greater extent

By Kelum Bandara   

Sri Lanka Chamber of Garment Exporters, which represents the SMEs in the apparel industry stressed the need to proceed with manufacture of garment products despite the lockdown to meet orders from foreign buyers with quality and on time delivery.   

Its General Secretary Hemantha Perera told Daily Mirror Sri Lanka had received plenty of orders for the Autumn /Winter seasons and any failure in delivery would affect the entire industry.   He said factory workers had been fully vaccinated at the moment and therefore the spread of Covid-19 among them was minimal at the moment. Also, he said the factories were operated in accordance with health protocols as much as possible.   

“Currently, we operate with 75-85 of our capacity. Even if we operate with full capacity, we cannot deliver supplies for all the orders. It is all the more important to make sure that the industry is fully operational. Our workers should be called dollar heroes because they are the ones who bring in valuable foreign exchange.   We need foreign currency to import petroleum products and much needed doses of Covid-19 vaccines. 

Therefore, it is thoroughly unacceptable for anyone to lobby for the closure of garment factories under the pretext of containing Covid-19,” he said.   

He said Sri Lanka had received such a high volume of orders because of manufacturing difficulties in other countries and the trade spat between China and the west.   

“We have the competitive advantage over other garments manufacturing countries in terms of quality and on time delivery only. We don’t have it in terms of pricing. Therefore, we need to supply in time. Otherwise, our buyers may not wait for us,” he said.