Dhaka, May 24 -- Garment and knitwear exporters' lobbying groups BGMEA and BKMEA say 478 of their members had to shut business in past two months with orders worth billions of dollars cancelled and payment denied by some Western retailers.

A total of 2,182 factories among 2,274 members cleared the salaries of 2.4 million workers for March while 1,878 among 1,926 factories in operation in April paid up their workers, according to the BGMEA.

Speaking to bdnews24.com, BGMEA spokesman Khan Monirul Alam said they do not have the record of how many workers were paid for last month's work.

"As many as 348 factories were shut in two months. The others are in trouble as well. The entire sector is in peril," he added.

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