Cotton and yarn price hike in the international market has badly affected the local consumers. The prices of fabrics and dresses have become almost double, consumers and businessmen said.

Local cloth traders and dress makers said the upward price of the cloths and fabrics has affected their business severely as consumers are reluctant to buy due to high price.

Saidur Rahman, a wholesale fabrics trader at the capital's Islampur market said their sale has declined by nearly 50 per cent over the last few months.

Mr. Rahman said the price of a selected cotton fabric was Tk24 to Tk30 per yard three to four months back which has now swelled to Tk45 to Tk60 in the wholesale market.

Local textile industry people said Bangladesh has about 11,500 million metres of fabric demand per year for domestic uses and garment production for export.

According to an estimate, Bangladesh has 11,232 million metres of annual fabric demands for local need and apparel export.

Out of the total demand, the local demand of fabrics was some 3,185 million metres in the last financial year 2009-10.

The Bangladesh's garment, textile and handloom industries have created employment for nearly 4.5 million people.

Delwar Hossain, Manager of the Bextex Limited said the higher price has already hit the business of the domestic clothing industry severely as the sales have declined.

"The prices of dress for child, male and female in the boutique houses have risen by 50 to 80 per cent over the last three to four months. It has affected our daily sales," Shaheen Rahma of Nongor Boutique Shop at Mirpur told the FE.

Shamim, a manager of the local cloth supplier Bexi Fabrics Ltd. told the FE that their sales have declined by 40 to 50 per cent over the last few months due to price hike.

"Our business faces hardship. We are at a loss as our sales have declined much. The consumers have already cut their spending on cloths and dresses to save money for other daily expenses," he said.