Kazi Zahidul Hasan :Bangladesh’s export to the US markets is on the rise despite the suspension of GSP facility by the American authorities.According to the Export Promotion Bureau (EPB), the country’s export earnings from the US totalled US$5.78 billion in the just concluded fiscal year 2014-15 compared with US$5.58 billion in the previous fiscal (2013-14), marking 3.57 per cent year-on-year growth.The US is the single largest consumer of Bangladeshi goods as well as local apparels. The country accounts for 18.54 per cent of the total export earnings during the period under review, shows the EPB data. “Our exports to the US market apparently has been not affected much despite suspension of GSP facility by the US government mainly due to reliance on Bangladeshi products by the American consumers,” Abdus Salam Murshedy, President of the Exporters Association of Bangladesh (EAB) told The New Nation on Tuesday.He mentioned that ready-made garment (RMG) represented over 80 per cent of the country’s total exports to the US market during the period. Fish and frozen shrimps, home textile, tobacco and headgears represented rest of the country’s export share to the US market. “Although our exports to the US market advanced during the period, the growth was not satisfactory in terms of growth rate with our competitors,” he noted.The EAB leader further said that when exports from India, Vietnam, Cambodia. Sri Lanka and Pakistan to the United States has been growing at the rate of double digit, Bangladesh is lagging far behind from them with showing a meager shipment growth. “The US government has provided various trade benefits to those countries resulting in significant rise in their shipment to the American market,” he added. When asked, he said, the United States is the largest export market for us and a renewed GSP would help our exports development efforts further to the country. The US government had suspended Generalised System of Preferences (GSP) for Bangladesh in June 2013 because of concerns over labour rights and worker safety following the tragic collapse of Rana Plaza.GSP is a special trade privilege under which nearly 5000 categories of products can enter into the US market duty-free.However, the GSP facilities provided by the US do not cover the country’s most revenue generating industry, the ready-made garments (RMG).
