Abu Sazzad :Country’s export growth substantially slowed down due to multifarious reasons including political unrest, lack of smooth supply chain and new manufacturing orders from the buyers.Country’s export marginally increased by 2.98 pc in the eight months (July to February) instead of the set target of 10 per cent per for this fiscal 2014-15.Bangladesh earned $22.90 billion from export during the first eight months of the current fiscal against $22.24 billion compared with the corresponding period of the fiscal 2013-14, according to the Export Promotion Bureau (EPB) data.The major export items registered positive growth during the period under review includewoven garments, knitwear, engine and electric goods, jute goods , chemical products , and agricultural products. While leather, frozen food, raw jute, and tea are the major items that experienced a negative growth in the same period.Country’s export growth is not good enough from our expected level said apparel exporter’s forum Bangladesh Garment Manufactures and Exporters Association (BGMEA) President Atiqul Islam said.The 10 percent growth target would have been achieved had there been no unrest in the country, said the BGMEA President and added that now it seems that the growth will be 3 to 4 percent.He hoped exports would continue to rise in the remaining months of the current fiscal if the political situation remains stable. The BGMEA chief said the political violence damaged Bangladesh’s image among international importers. He sought cooperation of all to attain $50 billion export target by 2021.The government has set an export target of $26.9bn from the RMG sector for the fiscal year 2014-15. To reach the $27billion export target set for the current fiscal, RMG industry needs to have a production of Tk 700 crore per day, he said. The BGMEA President said,” It is also necessary to maintain a smooth supply chain to carry raw materials for achieving the export target”.Economist Mamun-Ur-Rashid blamed widespread political unrest for the failure to reach the expected target. The export growth of the country had achieved amid political unrest ‘is not bad’ but the impact of the last three months unrest would be visible on exports ‘six months or one year later’.To reach the export target set by the government, Bangladesh needs to achieve 10 per cent growth per month, or else it won’t be possible to reach the target, he said.The 10 percent growth target set for woven garments would have been achieved had there been no unrest in the country.The current growth is the reflection of previous work orders as it takes three to four months to execute an order, said the former president of BGMEA Abdus Salam Murshedy. Actually, the buyers are concerned about the situation and wanted to know when the crisis would end so they could plan their business here and make decision on placing orders, he said. But we could not give any proper reply about the future course of political crisis in the country.He said Bangladesh needs 11 per cent growth to achieve the $50bn export target by 2021 in the garment sector. He sought cooperation of all to attain the export target.He underscored for relocating the maximum factories to achieve the export target. About relocation, he said they lack necessary lands to relocate their factories. He said 60 per cent of the shared building factory owners have land for relocation while 40 per cent are facing problems to find lands. “The problem is that if we fail to relocate our factories to purpose-made buildings, the buyers won’t place orders. Then the owners will have to shut down their factories,” he said.
