Kazi Zahidul Hasan :
Bangladesh’s garment exports are set to post a high growth this fiscal amid escalating trade dispute between USA and China, insiders said.
The country earned $23.12 billion from exports of ready-made garments (RMG) between July and February of this fiscal (2018-19), showing 14.17 per cent year-on-year growth, according to the Bangladesh Export Promotion Bureau (EPB).
In the July-February period, export of woven garments advanced by 14.84 per cent to $11.63 billion, while knitwear rose by 13.50 per cent to $11.49 billion.
“Garment exports are growing mainly because of US-China trade war. A lot of work orders are shifting from China to Bangladesh due to ongoing trade war between the US and China,” M Siddiqur Rahman, President of the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) told The New Nation yesterday.
He said that an improved workplace safety followed by factory remediation has brightened image of the country as well as the garment sector guiding international buyers to come here with more work orders.
Bangladesh is the world’s second largest garment exporter after China,
“More orders are also coming from the US since last year, as the retailers of the country diversifying their sourcing amid escalating US-China trade tensions,” said Siddiqur Rahman, adding, “Our garments export to the US grew by 6.65 per cent in the last year following the development.”
Bangladesh earned US$5.40 billion from apparel exports to the US market in 2018 compared with US$5.06 billion earning in the previous year (2017), according to an official data released by Office of Textiles and Apparel (Otexa), the US Department of Commerce.
Contrarily, China’s apparel export to the US rose by 1.34 per cent only to US$ 27. 37 billion in 2018, accounting for 33 per share of the US market.
“The current apparel export trend is encouraging. It is expected that the thread will continue in the months to come helping the sector attain a double digit growth in this fiscal,” said the BGMEA President.
Last fiscal, Bangladesh exported garment items worth $30.61 billion, registering an 8.76 percent year-on-year growth, according to the Bangladesh Export Promotion Bureau (EPB).
Garments accounted for 83 per cent of the country’s total export in the fiscal 2017-18.
“US-China trade war has created a very good opportunity for the local garment exporters to exploit. Bangladesh export earnings from apparel export continue to surge under the trade conflict,” former BGMEA President Abdus Salam Murshedy told The New Nation.
He said, the US retailers are shifting their sourcing from China to low cost manufacturing hubs like Bangladesh to keep cost under control amid imposition of high tariff on Chinese goods.
“Lot of business is coming from US buyers and it keeps afloat the apparel exports. This will help the apparel sector achieve a high growth this fiscal,” he added.
