Sourcing clothing from Bangladesh in 2026: the risks, and how buyers manage them

Sourcing clothing from Bangladesh in 2026 carries four live risks that a buyer can plan around but cannot remove: gas and electricity shortages that slow dyeing and sewing, a busy main port at Chattogram where a terminal concession is disputed, politics and wages under a government elected in February 2026, and visa rules that make an unplanned factory visit harder than it looks. Two trade changes sit on top of them: a 10% US tariff since 24 July 2026, and the scheduled end of Bangladesh’s least developed country status on 24 November 2026. This guide gives each risk with a dated number and its source, what a buyer can do about it, and what a buying house like ours can and cannot control. We checked it on 17 October 2026. The situation moves, so read the date beside each figure.

Will gas and power shortages delay my order?

Energy is the risk most likely to touch an order placed this year. Bangladesh was largely self-sufficient in natural gas in 2018, but its output has fallen as old fields have run down, AFP reported on 23 August 2026, and the gap is filled with imported liquefied natural gas (LNG). The war in the Middle East has disrupted those imports since traffic through the Strait of Hormuz was severely curtailed. On 1 September 2026 Bonik Barta reported that QatarEnergy, Bangladesh’s largest long-term LNG supplier, had extended force majeure on deliveries to Bangladesh and other buyers until November 2026, though Petrobangla, the state oil and gas company, said it had not been formally notified. The same report said Petrobangla expected roughly half of the 56 cargoes its two long-term agreements were due to bring in FY2026–27, and was buying more on the spot market, recently paying over US$24 per million British thermal units for two cargoes.

In August the shortage became acute. The Daily Star reported on 18 August 2026 that the country had about 2,420 million cubic feet of gas a day against demand of about 3,800, after LNG supply had fallen below 300 million cubic feet a day on 13 August. A director of BKMEA, the knitwear exporters’ association, said gas pressure was zero in some places and 4 to 5 PSI in others, against a normal requirement of around 15 to 18, and one large group in Gazipur was running its gas-dependent sections on diesel. Electricity follows gas: power generation, industry and factories’ own captive power plants together use more than three quarters of the country’s gas, according to AFP. In Chattogram, industry insiders told The Business Standard on 2 May 2026 that most garment factories were losing three to four hours of power in an eight-hour shift and that production costs had risen about 20%; in Gazipur on 4 July, one owner said factories were not getting even two to three hours of stable electricity in 24.

The outlook is better, not settled. On 30 September 2026 Petrobangla said it had secured 19 LNG cargoes for October and November, ten and nine, and its chairman said there was no problem with November supply. The same chairman told AFP, in a report published on 23 August, that the gas crisis would be resolved once the country turned to renewable energy, “perhaps two years” away. Plan as if shortages can return at any point in 2026 and 2027.

In Narsingdi, textile and dyeing units were among the worst hit in August, The Daily Star reported, and a Gazipur group was spending on diesel to keep its washing machines running, so fabric and washed garments such as denim are the most exposed. A shortage rarely stops an order outright. It stretches the fabric stage, raises the factory’s costs and pushes the ex-factory date back by days or weeks.

What you can do:

• Approve fabric first. Lab dips, fabric quality and colour are the approvals that unlock dyeing, the stage most exposed to gas. An approval that waits on your side loses the slot.
• Ask how the factory is powered. Grid, its own gas generator, diesel standby or solar, and which processes stop when gas pressure falls. Ask too whether fabric is knitted and dyed on site or bought from a mill, because a mill elsewhere has its own supply problem.
• Keep a buffer between the ex-factory date and the date you need the goods, and agree in writing how a delay will be reported and what happens then.
• Ask for weekly progress against the critical path: fabric in, cutting, sewing, finishing, inspection.
• Expect pressure on price. Diesel back-up costs money, and on 7 October 2026 BKMEA’s president said rising costs were not being covered by buyers.

Can Chattogram port handle my shipment on time?

Bangladesh’s main sea port, Chattogram, is handling more containers than a year ago. The Chittagong Port Authority’s terminal manager’s figures, reported by Bonik Barta on 1 July 2026, show 3.53 million TEU handled in FY2025–26, up 7.13% on the year before. Container ships spent 2.38 days in port on average, down from 2.58, while containers stayed in the yard 9.55 days on average, up from 9.39. The port is turning ships round faster, but boxes still wait more than a week in the yard.

Two things can disrupt it. The first is the calendar. Before each Eid exporters rush to ship and inland depots fill up, and during the Eid closure of June 2025 The Business Standard reported 30% of export shipments delayed; our production calendar gives the 2026 dates and the expected 2027 ones. SEKO Logistics notes that peak-season congestion at Chattogram can delay loading by three to seven days.

The second is a labour dispute. On 8 October 2026 the government signed a 15-year concession with DP World to run the New Mooring Container Terminal, which handled about 44% of the port’s containers in 2025, The Business Standard reported. Before the signing, port workers who oppose it had threatened to halt port operations; they held a symbolic hunger strike on 12 October and announced another for 19 October. The reports we read up to 17 October 2026 describe protests, not a stoppage. If you have goods due to sail in the coming weeks, ask your forwarder each week whether the terminal is working normally.

What you can do:

• Count from the date the goods pass final inspection, not from a sailing date, and keep a margin for a missed connection at the transshipment hub, such as Colombo or Singapore.
• Avoid an ex-factory date in the week before Eid, when depots are fullest.
• Ask your forwarder for the depot cut-off, the hub and the connection time, and to tell you when a booking is rolled to a later vessel.
• Fly only the part that cannot wait. A split shipment, a small share by air for the launch and the rest by sea, limits the cost of a late vessel; our sea vs air guide shows how to size it.
• Insure the cargo, whoever books the freight.

Is Bangladesh politically stable after the 2026 election?

Bangladesh held national elections on 12 February 2026, the first since the student-led uprising of 2024 that ousted Sheikh Hasina. The Bangladesh Nationalist Party and its allies won at least 212 seats and Jamaat-e-Islami and its allies 77, and Tarique Rahman was sworn in as prime minister on 17 February, Al Jazeera reported; the Awami League was banned from taking part. The UK Foreign Office’s travel advice still warns that political rallies can turn violent and that during hartals, general strikes, there can be arson and vandalism in towns and cities. For a buyer, the practical risk is lost days: blocked roads between the factory and the port, and factories closed during a strike.

The second political question is the wage bill. The minimum wage for garment workers has been Tk 12,500 a month since December 2023. On 7 October 2026 The Business Standard reported that the government was considering a new wage board; labour leaders want a new minimum set by December so that it applies from January, while BKMEA’s president said it was not the right time to raise wages. The last review took about six months from forming the board to publishing the rates. Our wages guide has the history and the current rates.

What you can do:

• Ask how long a quoted price holds, and what happens to it if a new minimum wage takes effect during production.
• Approve a second factory for your core styles, so a closure in one district does not stop a whole range.
• Define force majeure in your purchase order: what counts, how quickly it must be notified, and what happens to the delivery date.
• Read the travel advice before a visit, and keep away from rallies and large gatherings, as the Foreign Office advises.

Can I get a visa on arrival for a factory visit?

Possibly, but do not plan a trip around it. The visa-on-arrival page of the Special Branch of Bangladesh Police lists business and trade officials and prospective investors from European countries among those eligible, and says foreign investors and exporters are eligible too with valid documents from a relevant body such as the Board of Investment, BEPZA, BGMEA or FBCCI. A visa on arrival lasts 30 days at most, for a single entry. Applicants pay the fee in cash on arrival, carry at least US$500 in cash or a credit card and a return ticket, and the immigration officer grants the visa after reviewing the documents. The same page says citizens of European countries, the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and several others are eligible if they travel to Bangladesh from a country without a resident Bangladesh embassy or consulate. The UK Foreign Office says visas on arrival are not guaranteed, are issued at the officer’s discretion, and are available for business travel with a letter of introduction.

So a buyer flying from a country that has a Bangladesh embassy or high commission should apply for a business visa before travelling, with an invitation letter from the company being visited, and allow time for it. A refused visa at Dhaka airport costs the whole trip.

What do the US tariff and LDC graduation change?

Two trade rules change the landed cost rather than the delivery date. Since 24 July 2026 the United States has charged a Section 301 tariff of 10% on products of Bangladesh on top of the normal duty, with some listed products exempt, against 12.5% for China and Vietnam; our US tariff guide shows the rates line by line. And Bangladesh is scheduled to leave the UN’s least developed country (LDC) category on 24 November 2026. It has asked for a longer preparatory period, and on 21 July 2026 ECOSOC recommended that the General Assembly act before that date; the UN’s LDC portal recorded no General Assembly decision when we read it on 17 October 2026.

Graduation does not change duty overnight. The European Commission says Bangladesh keeps duty-free access under Everything But Arms at least until the end of 2029, and the UK and other markets have their own transitions, set out in our LDC graduation guide. If your orders will still be landing after 2029, price them under both outcomes in the landed cost calculator, and keep the origin documents for every shipment, because preferences depend on them.

What about factory safety and compliance?

These were the risks buyers asked about ten years ago, and today they are the best documented. Since the Rana Plaza collapse of 2013, export factories have been inspected for structural, fire and electrical safety, and a factory in the RMG Sustainability Council’s programme has a public inspection record on the International Accord’s factory list. The risk that remains is mostly about which factory is really making your order: an unapproved subcontractor, a certificate that belongs to a sister unit, an audit older than two years. Our factory verification guide shows how to check each document in its public register and on Open Supply Hub, and the rules on forced labour and cotton traceability are covered in a separate guide.

What a buying house controls, and what it does not

A buying house cannot make gas, open a berth or call off a strike, and one that promises a delivery date whatever happens is promising something nobody controls. What it does control is the choice of factory, how early a problem is seen and how quickly you hear about it.

Our own commitments are the ones on our how we work page. We name the factory that will make your order in writing before production, with its address, certificates and audit reports, so you can run every check in this guide yourself. We check quality on the line and run an AQL final inspection before shipment, and you receive the report. We do not promise that none of the risks above will touch your order.

A risk checklist for an order placed in 2026

1. The factory is named in writing, and its name and address match its licences, certificates and Open Supply Hub profile.
2. You know how it is powered and where its fabric is made.
3. Fabric, lab dips and trims are approved first.
4. The ex-factory date avoids the week before Eid, and there is a buffer between it and the date you need the goods.
5. The purchase order says how long the price holds, what counts as force majeure and how delays are reported.
6. Landed cost is priced at today’s duty and, for goods landing after 2029, under the duty that would follow graduation.
7. If you plan to visit, the business visa is applied for before you book flights.
8. Final inspection is booked, and you see the report before the goods ship.

If you are weighing Bangladesh against another country, our country comparison sets these risks beside cost, duty and product fit. Or tell us what you want to make: we reply within one working day, and our own orders start at 500 pieces per style and colour.