A severe, systemic natural gas outage across Bangladesh’s key manufacturing belts is pushing the nation's industrial foundation to its operational limits.
Deprived of normal pipeline gas pressure (10 to 15 PSI), factories across Narsingdi, Chittagong, Gazipur, and Narayanganj are either shutting down or burning expensive, non-traditional alternative fuels—ranging from raw wood and agricultural biomass to furnace oil and light diesel oil (LDO)—to keep basic machinery afloat.
With national pipeline pressure plummeting to near zero in major industrial zones, primary textile and heavy steel manufacturing capacity has crashed by 50% to 90%, inflating production overheads by up to 400% and threatening severe environmental damage.
Gas-dependent textile units report output drops of 70% to 90%; steel re-rolling mills have shut down nearly 40% of operations, while integrated steelmakers operate at just 30% to 50% capacity.
Switching steam boilers to furnace oil or LDO increases fuel overheads by up to 400% (4x) compared to grid gas, severely undercutting product margins.
Over 50 textile and sizing units in Narsingdi are burning timber in steam boilers at an extra cost of Tk10,000 to Tk12,000 per day, sparking environmental enforcement risks and deforestation concerns.
Mithila Textile Mills in Araihazar has successfully built a Tk50 crore ($4.2M+) rice husk gasification plant, generating 20,160 m³ equivalent fuel daily to cover 70% of its energy needs.
BSRM and other major steel producers warn that reduced billet output will collide with the October construction surge, driving retail rebar prices well above the current Tk81,000–87,500 per tonne.
Industrial Sector | Primary Hub | Alternative Fuel Adopted | Daily Cost Impact | Production & Operational Status |
Primary Textile (Sizing/Dyeing) | Narsingdi (Chowala, Madhabdi) | Raw Wood & Textile Waste (Jhut) | +Tk10,000–12,000/day added expenditure | Output down 70%–90%; Momin Textile idling 7 of 10 units; forced worker furloughs |
Heavy Steel & Re-Rolling | Chittagong & Gazipur | Furnace Oil & Light Diesel Oil (LDO) | 300%–400% increase in fuel expenses | 40% of re-rolling mills closed; large plants (BSRM, KSRM, GPH) operating at 30%–50% capacity |
Diversified Textile & Processing | Narayanganj (Araihazar) | Rice Husk Biomass Gasification | High initial investment (~Tk50cr) | Fills 70% of energy demand (20,160 m³/day); maintains near-normal export schedules |
"Running steel melting facilities on furnace oil or LDO multiplies fuel costs up to four times compared to natural gas," noted Tapan Sengupta, deputy managing director of BSRM.
"We are maintaining operations at 50% to 60% capacity simply to protect our workforce and fulfill core customer commitments, but doing so under these cost ratios creates immense financial strain."
"Steel and re-rolling operations cannot run without continuous power and gas," stated Suman Chowdhury, general secretary of the Bangladesh Steel Manufacturers Association (BSMA).
"With peak construction season starting in October, chronic factory slowdowns will inevitably restrict market supply. When supply fails to meet seasonal housing and infrastructure demand, price surges across structural building materials become unavoidable."
Strategic policy roadmap
To prevent total industrial stagnation and mitigate environmental risks, industrial associations recommend three core strategic shifts:
- Incentivize off-grid biomass gasification, industrial solar rooftops, and waste-to-energy technologies through tax credits and targeted capital subsidies.
- Allocate predictable pipeline gas windows to high-value export processing hubs (dyeing, sizing, primary metals) over non-essential seasonal users.
- Provide low-cost green refinancing lines through Bangladesh Bank to allow SMEs to fund alternative boiler conversions and offset initial setup costs.