Some 5000 weavers blocked the Dhaka-Sylhet highway at Madhabdi from 10:30am to 2pm bringing traffic to a halt.
This is the second day that weavers continue their indefinite strike.
Bangladesh Handloom and Power-loom Owners' Association convened the strike demanding resumption of tax-free yarn import from India through Benapole land port.
The association's general secretary Ayub Ali told bdnews24.com on Wednesday that they had not seen any sign of an initiative from the government to address their demand for lower yarn prices.
Bangladesh's top body of knitwear manufacturers and exporters (BKMEA) also expressed solidarity with the strikers.
Weavers have for been demanding yarn import through Benapole following the dramatic rise in yarn for weeks.
But the import of yarn through land port remains banned.
Leaders of the weavers also demanded the prime minister's intervention to meet their six-point charter of demands.
Local yarn producers, however, say that resumption of yarn import through the land port would bring down prices and eventually ruin the industry.
The handloom association president, Lokman Hossain Bhuiyan, on Saturday said the price of yarn started to rise from October last year following the ban on imports through Benapole.
One pound of 40 count yarn cost had been available at Tk 65, which has increased to Tk 115 now, he said.
He alleged that the minister for jute and textiles did not keep his word about opening up the land port.
According to BKMEA, the country's annual yarn demand is 10 lakh tonnes – of which seven lakh tonnes is consumed by the knit sector and the remainder by the weavers.
The production capacity of the 266 spinning mills is however only six lakh tonnes.
Source: bdnews24.com
