Kazi Zahidul Hasan :
The apparel industry owners have said that foreign buyers are showing keen interest of renewing or signing new contracts with them since the country’s political environment has become stable.
They said that it has created an opportunity for them to recover their losses suffered due to political turbulence and violence in the last three months. The political unrest was discouraging global clothing buyers from placing orders in Bangladesh.
“Buyers are coming back to Bangladesh as there is no more political turmoil here,” M Shahidullah Azim, Vice-President of the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) told The New Nation on Friday.
He said that political violence from January to March has severely affected their production and exports. Many factories lost huge work orders as buyers shifted those to other countries for security reason.
According to him, neighbouring India has taken most of the orders that have been lost during political turmoil, while the rest have gone to Pakistan and China.
The garment industry accounts for 80 percent of the country’s total exports. The country has roughly 4,000 RMG factories and they are manufacturing garments for the leading fashion brands and chain super stores in the West.
“Buyers are showing keen interest in placing new orders. Many of them have started negotiating with our member factories. But the problem is that they are offering lower price considering the present condition of the industry,” he said.
Shahidullah Azim further said that many apparel units were running their factories with 30 to 40 percent less orders. That is why the buyers are taking advantage of the situation”.
He said that the export orders for June onward are not satisfactory because they were unable to secure export orders from January to March.
“No buyer visited Bangladesh during the period that deprived the industry from getting work orders,” he noted.
When asked, the BGMEA leader said, buyers have no choice but to come in Bangladesh because of price competitiveness. We are cheap
among the garments producing countries. So, they will not procure garments from other countries making additional payment.
“Our exports will be boosted again when we start executing new orders. But we may not achieve the export target this time due to sluggish orders,” he said.
He added that the country earned $18 billion from apparel exports during the July-March period of the current fiscal. If we want to achieve the target, we have to ship additional garments worth $9.0 billion in next three months, which is quite impossible.
“But we are optimistic about the future export growth, because the latest event of political instability didn’t affect much the confidence of buyers. We hope the inflow of orders will be satisfactory in the days to come,” he said.
The apparel industry owners have said that foreign buyers are showing keen interest of renewing or signing new contracts with them since the country’s political environment has become stable.
They said that it has created an opportunity for them to recover their losses suffered due to political turbulence and violence in the last three months. The political unrest was discouraging global clothing buyers from placing orders in Bangladesh.
“Buyers are coming back to Bangladesh as there is no more political turmoil here,” M Shahidullah Azim, Vice-President of the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) told The New Nation on Friday.
He said that political violence from January to March has severely affected their production and exports. Many factories lost huge work orders as buyers shifted those to other countries for security reason.
According to him, neighbouring India has taken most of the orders that have been lost during political turmoil, while the rest have gone to Pakistan and China.
The garment industry accounts for 80 percent of the country’s total exports. The country has roughly 4,000 RMG factories and they are manufacturing garments for the leading fashion brands and chain super stores in the West.
“Buyers are showing keen interest in placing new orders. Many of them have started negotiating with our member factories. But the problem is that they are offering lower price considering the present condition of the industry,” he said.
Shahidullah Azim further said that many apparel units were running their factories with 30 to 40 percent less orders. That is why the buyers are taking advantage of the situation”.
He said that the export orders for June onward are not satisfactory because they were unable to secure export orders from January to March.
“No buyer visited Bangladesh during the period that deprived the industry from getting work orders,” he noted.
When asked, the BGMEA leader said, buyers have no choice but to come in Bangladesh because of price competitiveness. We are cheap
among the garments producing countries. So, they will not procure garments from other countries making additional payment.
“Our exports will be boosted again when we start executing new orders. But we may not achieve the export target this time due to sluggish orders,” he said.
He added that the country earned $18 billion from apparel exports during the July-March period of the current fiscal. If we want to achieve the target, we have to ship additional garments worth $9.0 billion in next three months, which is quite impossible.
“But we are optimistic about the future export growth, because the latest event of political instability didn’t affect much the confidence of buyers. We hope the inflow of orders will be satisfactory in the days to come,” he said.
