Following Easter Sunday attacks : Exporters meet delivery targets; no cancellations | Sunday Observer

Following Easter Sunday attacks : Exporters meet delivery targets; no cancellations

12 May, 2019

The Easter Sunday attacks have created a major issue for the export community as they have to meet the delivery time set by the buyer community.

“The country got disrupted due to the recent attacks and we found it very difficult time to meet the delivery targets. On top of this issue, the cargo cut off time had been advanced. Therefore, we were compelled to meet these requirements. However, we were unable to do night shifts and the situation was worse,” Leading Apparel Exporter and President National Chamber of Exporters, Ramya Weerakoon said.

“It was very hard meeting delivery targets. Most of the urban factory workers are from faraway places. Their parents are reluctant to send them to work the night shifts. Working with short staff was like adding fuel to the fire,” she said.

“We are undergoing a hard time in fulfilling orders. However, we do not want to go public with our difficulties but somehow meet targets.

The buyers who place orders for spring and summer usually visit us during this time of the year for negotiations. All the buyers have cancelled their visits to the country. This is a big blow to the export community,” she said.

“We need to convince the buyers and build confidence in them to continue with our business relationships. We are going through a bad spell. However, we are managing it well despite a lack of support from the government,” she said.

Measures have been taken to promote rural workforce. The good sign is there are no cancellations as yet. We are working very hard to meet delivery schedules. However, the supply chain is interrupted. During the 26-year war we managed to fulfill the requirements of buyers. The business community is resilient to any condition on their path. Whatever difficult time we have to overcome it somehow, she said.

“We have to find ways and means of going through our activities despite these setbacks.

The buyers are the key factor in our business and we need to have a good rapport with them. We need to give the quality they seek and never compromise on that. The three key components of our business are quality, delivery and reliability. We need to be flexible to their conditions,” she said.

“It is a pity that we had to undergo this. The incident could have been avoided if we were more vigilant,” she said.

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