Warehouses full of imported second-hand clothes as Chattogram expects winter wear sales to top Tk 1,000 crore

Photo: Collected

With the change of season, winter is at the doorstep. In the port city, the temperature shifts as soon as evening falls, and that has revived the market for winter clothing.

Ahead of winter, the warehouses of second-hand clothing importers in Chattogram are already full. The wholesale hubs for second-hand clothes in Khatunganj, Terry Bazar, Jahur Hawkers Market and Mohol Market are now bustling.

According to traders’ associations, sales of imported second-hand winter clothing in Chattogram, wholesale and retail combined, are expected to exceed Tk 1,000 crore this year.

The wholesale hubs have no time to catch their breath. Retailers from different parts of the country are buying second-hand clothes here by the bale to cash in on the winter market. Crowds of buyers have also grown at retail shops and on the footpaths.

The main trading points for the huge consignments arriving through Chattogram port are Amir Market in Khatunganj, Asadganj and Majhirghat, Jahur Hawkers Market, Mohol Market and the Terry Bazar area.

Every day, hundreds of bales of clothing go from these wholesalers to Sadarghat, Banglabazar and Baitul Mukarram in Dhaka, and to areas of the north hit by severe cold, such as Rangpur, Dinajpur, Kurigram, Nilphamari and Panchagarh. As the cold sets in, the Chattogram hubs are getting busier with wholesalers from across the country.

Wholesale traders said shiploads of clothing are arriving at the port from China, Thailand and South Korea against letters of credit (LCs). The bales are released directly from the port and stored in various warehouses. However, the rise in the dollar exchange rate in the international market has put some upward pressure on the prices of imported goods this year.

Traders explain that the rise in the price of second-hand clothes in the international market is driven by the impact of the global economy. Geopolitical instability has increased sea freight and container freight charges. As a result, bringing in this heavy, bulky product directly costs more.

Meanwhile, inflation and the popularity of online resale platforms in developed countries have increased the use of second-hand clothing in their domestic markets. This has reduced the supply of good-quality or ‘cream grade’ clothing for export and pushed up prices. Processing costs have also risen as labour, packing and handling costs have increased at the main sorting hubs in the United Arab Emirates, India and Eastern Europe.

So, although China supplies the market in large volumes, the price of good clothing that is in demand has risen internationally under pressure from huge imports in Asia and Africa.

In the words of Md Yunus, a wholesale trader at Jahur Hawkers Market, the cold will set in by the end of November. Ramadan begins next February. Whatever business there is to be done will happen in these two months.

Buyers from far-flung areas have already started buying winter clothes. Each bale of foreign second-hand blankets is selling for Tk 12,000 to Tk 28,000; a bale contains 28 to 30 blankets. New blankets cost from Tk 200 to Tk 4,000 per piece. Prices vary with quality and size.

A bale of jackets costs Tk 10,000 to Tk 30,000. A bale of cheaper jackets contains 150 to 200 pieces, while a Tk 30,000 bale has 80 to 100. Almost-new jackets from well-known brands such as Adidas or Puma can easily be found in these bales.

Yunus said bales of sweaters start from Tk 7,000, with 200 sweaters in each bale. A bale of clothing weighs 80 to 100 kg.

Importer Jasim Uddin said bales of Chinese men’s sweaters are selling for Tk 7,000 and bales of mixed full-sleeve T-shirts for Tk 6,500. A bale of women’s sweaters from Thailand costs Tk 8,000, and a 100 kg bale of women’s jeans and gabardine trousers costs Tk 10,000.

Traders in Khatunganj are engaged in the wholesale trade of consumer goods all year round. But when winter comes, traders at 50 to 60 shops in the area’s Amir Market import second-hand winter clothes.

Khatunganj trader Md Mohiuddin said the main buyers of these imported clothes are the country’s low-income, lower-middle-class and working people. For ordinary people, it is a major way to keep out the cold at a low price. But because attractive clothes of international brands can be found in the bales, young people and the middle class in the city are now also big buyers of these clothes.

Jahur Hawkers Market is a very familiar name to Chattogram’s middle- and low-income people. The market has a tradition as a wholesale and retail market for warm clothing.

Tipu Sultan, owner of Binimoy Store at the hawkers market, said, ‘Before winter came, this shop used to sell shirts, trousers and T-shirts. But in winter we have started selling warm clothes.’

According to him, depending on quality, women’s sweaters and jackets are available at the hawkers market for Tk 200 to Tk 800, men’s sweaters for Tk 100 to Tk 500, men’s jackets for Tk 300 to Tk 3,000, children’s sweaters for Tk 50 to Tk 600, mufflers for Tk 40 to Tk 200 and woollen caps for Tk 50 to Tk 250.

Trader Elias Uddin said, ‘There are more than 800 shops in the three Jahur Hawkers markets. Of these, 200 are large shops, 350 are medium-sized and the rest are small.’

He added, ‘This winter, small shops will do business of Tk 10,000 to Tk 12,000 a day, medium shops Tk 20,000 to Tk 25,000 and large shops Tk 50,000 to Tk 60,000. Altogether, we expect business of around Tk 200 crore in this market over the next three months.’

Mozammel Haque, a trader on Tamakumandi Lane of the city’s Reazuddin Bazar, said, ‘Our Tamakumandi Lane has around 15,000 shops in 110 markets. Of these, 50 per cent of the shops are trading in winter clothes. It is hard to say how much business is being done in this huge market, but we estimate that sales exceed Tk 1 crore every day.’

According to Jahangir Alam, a wholesale trader on the same lane, ‘Around 50 per cent of the shops in the 110 markets are doing this winter business. On that basis, if around 7,500 wholesale and retail shops do even Tk 10,000 of business a day, the amount comes to Tk 450 crore in three months. We estimate that sales of at least Tk 700 crore will take place in the next three months in this market, one of the country’s main wholesale clothing markets.’

Every evening, stalls selling clothes bought from the wholesale market are set up on the city’s footpaths.

Sales of imported second-hand winter clothing are especially brisk on the footpaths of New Market, KC Dey Road, Laldighir Par, Andarkilla, Bandartila, 2 Number Gate, Bahaddarhat, Agrabad and Bayezid Bostami.

Terry Bazar is one of Chattogram’s old traditional clothing markets. It has around three thousand shops in 82 markets. Terry Bazar trader Abdul Mannan said, ‘Among the warm clothes here, children’s clothes are the most widely available.’

Sources

Original report: BSS — https://www.bssnews.net/bangla/special-report/359473