Staff Reporter :
Country’s apparel manufacturers are smiling as the international buyers are placing new orders for reopening the consumer markets in Europe and the US, the major destinations of the sector.
Bangladesh earned $1.57 billion from readymade garment sector in the first 18 days of the current fiscal year, according to a provisional data of Export Promotion Bureau (EPB).
The data showed that the export earnings had declined by 11.74 per cent to $1.57 billion from $1.78 billion in the same period of last year.
The sector had lost earnings worth $4.33 billion in the March-June period of this year due to the global coronavirus pandemic, the data said.
However, exporters said that the trend in this month is signalling a positive sign for the sector, though the export earnings are still lower than the amount earned in the same period of last year. Dr Fahmida Khatun, Executive Director of Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD), told The New Nation, “This is a good sign for our economy but no chance to feel self-satisfactory for the improvement of the sector amid corona pandemic.”
Taking opportunity from the pandemic, we have to make our own brand for branding Bangladeshi made garments. We have to bring multi-dimensions in our products like self protective equipments, although it takes a long-term plan to increase product diversity,” she said
She further said that the production growth and product diversification will be the key to survival of the sector in the coming day.
The Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) said 80 per cent of the cancelled export orders have already been reassured by the international buyers.
The buyers from the EU and US have started to negotiate with the manufacturers and most of them have renewed their previous orders and some buyers placed new purchase orders.
However, buyers are not fulfilling the conditions for payment in case of returning of the cancelled purchase orders. In many cases, payment will take as long as six months or a year. Also, some buyers are forcing to get discounts to cope with the losses caused by the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic.
International buyers started shifting their orders from Bangladesh since the end of February this year due to the outbreak of the coronavirus. More than three hundred buyers withdrew export orders worth about $3.15 billion.
The country’s RMG exports plunged by 18.84 per cent to $27.70 billion in the just concluded 2019-20 fiscal year. The sector had fetched $34.13 billion in FY2018-19.
