Primark Eventually Commits To Honouring £370m Purchase Contracts With Suppliers After Criticism

Image Courtesy of Primark

Dublin : April 20th 2020 : Primark has committed to pay £370m to suppliers for outstanding stock after coming under fire for cancelling orders because of the coronavirus lockdown.

The company, which was criticised after it was named as the brand to have cancelled or postponed the most orders from suppliers in Bangladesh, says the move will cost it £370 million (US$462m).

Primark had previously agreed to pay the wages of garment workers in its supplier factories for this work but critics pointed out that this amounted to only a fraction of the value of the orders

Primark said that it will honour orders placed with suppliers to cover products which were in production or due for shipment by 17 April.

The company had previously agreed to pay for orders which were in transit or booked for delivery by 18 March.

Primark, with daily pre-pandemic sales of £650m per month, did not make further commitments for orders already placed for delivery after April 17th,  and the firm faces continuing  criticism as it has cancelled millions of pounds worth of orders from international clothing factories.