bdnews24.com :
Bangladesh’s exports to the USA and Canada have declined in the first quarter of the 2014-15 fiscal over the same period in 2013-14.
Moreover, export earnings from France, the Netherlands, and Japan have also fallen during this period.
The drop in export is evident from the Export Promotion Bureau’s recent data.
The overall export decline is mainly due to a fall in apparel exports.
However, garment manufacturers are far from alarmed; instead, they are optimistic about RMG export rebounding by the first two months of next year.
In July-September of 2013-14, Bangladesh exported $1467 million worth of goods to USA; but in the same period of this fiscal year, its export has declined by 8.4 percent to $1343 million.
In that same period, around $289 million worth of goods were exported to Canada. Exports to the Canadian market marked a 13.8 percent fall to $249 million.
A drop in knit and woven garment exports to the US and Canada has contributed to the overall export decline in the North American market.
In the first quarter of this fiscal year, knit export earnings from the USA were $339 million and woven export earnings $911 million, registering a drop of 5 percent and 8.8 percent respectively from previous year.
On the other hand, knit garments export to the Canadian market is $105 million, showing a decline of 14.63 percent, while woven garments export stood at $125 million, registering a fall of 14.38 percent from the previous year.
Apparel export earnings from France, the Netherlands and Japan have also declined.
Outside North America, the export decline is considerable in the Dutch market. Knit apparel export to the Netherlands has fallen by 9 percent and non-knit apparel export has declined by 13.23 percent.
Despite an increase in knit export, the export of woven garments to Japan has fallen by 4.44 percent.
But RMG manufacturers are not worried about the declining trend.
The apex body of apparel exporters, BGMEA, has blamed wage rise, foreign buyers’ preference for alternative counties due to violent agitation in Bangladesh, and drop in work order for non-compliant factories for the export fall in the first quarter.
BGMEA Vice President Md Shahidullah Azim told bdnews24.com, “In the RMG industry, wages have risen by 76 percent and production cost has also increased by 13percent. As a result, CM (Cutting and Making) charges have also gone up.
“Moreover, buyers are reluctant to place orders here following last year’s political turmoil. We’ve lost an order of $500 million to Vietnam because of political tensions.”
After the Rana Plaza debacle, foreign buyers have stopped placing orders with non-compliant factories, Shahidullah added. But he is optimistic that the export scenario will improve by the first two months of next year.
He said, “A few days ago, H&M CEO Karl-Johan Persson visited Bangladesh. He promised to place orders worth several billion dollars in the next few years.
“Moreover, we are still competitive in this sector. So, we are not worried by the recent decline in exports.”
