Kazi Zahidul Hasan :
The local apparel industry has made strong comeback overcoming the hurdles brought by the Covid-19 pandemic.
They said a rebound in export orders after demand crashed during pandemic shutdown is helping to revive the country’s main export industry. The government policy supports, cash incentives, and low cost loan to the RMG manufacturers also give a cushion against the fallout of the Covid-19 pandemic, they said.
Bangladesh’s garments export registered nearly 34 per cent year-on-year growth in the first nine months (July-March) of FY22, reflecting a strong rebound in demand for locally –produced apparels in global markets.
“The garment sector makes a strong comeback and at the moment the industry has been able to attain a high export growth, helped by rising demand from key markets and inflow of increased orders following the reopening of western economies,” Faruque Hassan, president of the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association, or BGMEA, told The New Nation.
He added, “Demands of RMG products increased sharply in the EU and US market with the improvement of the Covid-19 situation.”
Bangladesh earned $31.42 billion from apparel shipments in the first nine months of the current fiscal year (2021-22) compared to exports of $23.48 billion in the same period of the previous fiscal, according to the Export Promotion Bureau (EPB).
Of the receipts, $17.11 billion came from knitwear shipments, while woven items fetched $14.30 billion, according to the EPB.
“As economies in the West were turning around buyers pouring additional orders to us to elevate their inventories. On top of that, shifting work orders from China, Myanmar and Ethiopia helped as push factors for the robust growth.
If the present growth trend continues, Bangladesh, this fiscal, may also surpass the garment export target of $35.144 billion set for the ongoing fiscal year,” hoped Faruque Hassan.
He also predicted that figure would expand to $50 billion in the next fiscal year, taking advantage of rebound in global demands.
The BGMEA leader also said that the industry is facing challenges of rising input cost as a result of high raw material prices and unreliable supply of energy despite the robust growth of export earnings.
“To sustain the export growth the government should take measures including tax breaks, cheap loans and supplying gas and electricity at rates that are comparable with rivals in South Asia,” he added.
The BGMEA leader also mentioned that Bangladesh’s apparel exports have become competitive over the past few years. But a rise in gas and electricity tariffs and persisting high cost of raw materials can hurt the industry’s edge over its competitors. This is a critical area that the government should think about.
In the fiscal 2020-21, readymade garment exports from Bangladesh increased by 12.55 per cent to $31.456 billion compared to exports of $27.94 billion in the previous fiscal (2019-20). However, this value was lower than $34.13 billion exports made during July-June 2018-19.
Apparel export from the country faced serious setback during the fiscal year (2019-20), when global clothing brands suspended or cancelled orders worth more than $3 billion, affecting about 4 million workers and thousands of factories.
The country’s earnings from garment export in that fiscal year declined 18.45 per cent compared to the previous fiscal year. The sharp dip in the export earnings from RMG sector has been largely attributed to the Covid-19 pandemic.
“With the outbreak in March 2020, Bangladesh apparel sector fell in uncertainty as the demands of goods declined sharply, while buyers canceled and held work orders. But the work order started to peak with the ebbing of Covid-19 pandemic and subsequent reopening of global economy,” Mohammad Hatem, Executive President of Bangladesh Knitwear Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BKMEA) told The New Nation yesterday.
“Earnings from apparel export have registered highly impressive growth during the July-March period of 2021-22 fiscal year. Even the growth of export earnings from apparels is well above even the strategic target during the said period,” he said.
When asked, Mohammad Hatem, said the rise in demand for apparel from the country mostly in the European Union and the United States of America is mainly help the sharp rise in exports.
