Walmart to source more from Bangladesh

Walmart today expressed its interest to work more closely with Bangladesh and procure more items as the US retail giant believes the country is a lucrative destination for sourcing, said Andrea Albright, executive vice-president for sourcing of the company.

Albright made the comment at a meeting with Salman F Rahman, the prime minister's adviser on private industries and investment, at the latter's office in Dhaka.

The executive vice-president added that Walmart has been sourcing garment items from Bangladesh for many years although the volume reduced a bit during the Covid-19 pandemic.

However, the quantity of garment items sourced from Bangladesh will increase soon, she said, hoping that some other products would be added to the existing basket of goods.

Paul Dyck, vice-president of Walmart on global government affairs and business diplomacy, and other senior officials of the company were also present at the meeting, according to a statement from the adviser's office.

During the meeting, Rahman urged Walmart's top officials to source more from Bangladesh and include electronic products, agri products, packaged spices, jute goods, and also garment items made from man-made fibre.

Currently, Walmart is Bangladesh's second-largest international garment buyer after Swedish retail giant H&M. Walmart sources nearly $4 billion worth of garment items from Bangladesh annually while H&M sources more than $4 billion annually.

Rahman also said garment factories in the nation have been maintaining global standards of compliance and that workplace safety has been strengthened.

"Many of Bangladesh's garment factories have passed the world's highest standards of testing," he said.

The adviser briefed them as Bangladesh's economy has been rebounding from the severe fallouts of the Covid-19 pandemic and the Russia-Ukraine war.