Bangladesh garment exports rise 11 per cent, defying doomsayers
\nAFP via Yahoo! News<\/p>\n
DHAKA (AFP) – Bangladesh’s readymade garment exports grew 11 percent in 2005 following abolition of global textile quotas, defying fears the trade rule changes would crush the sector, figures showed.<\/p>\n
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Readymade garment exports rose to 6.89 billion dollars in 2005 from 6.22 billion dollars, according to the data released by Bangladesh’s Export Promotion Bureau.<\/p>\n
Manufacturers and experts said the figures showed Bangladesh, one of the world’s poorest nations, has fared well under the new quota-free regime and is set to consolidate itself as an established textile nation.<\/p>\n
“We’ve proved all the doomsayers wrong. The results show Bangladesh is almost unbeatable in low-priced segments of textile exports,” said Fazlul Haq, president of the Bangladesh Knitwear Manufacturers and Exporters Association.<\/p>\n
Exports of knitwear such as T-shirts, sweater and polo-shirts, grew 27 per cent to 3.21 billion dollars while exports of woven garments, such as trousers and jeans, were virtually unchanged.<\/p>\n
Textile exports helped push up overall exports by 12 percent in 2005 to 9.3 billion dollars. Jute, footwear and agro-related products fared well along with textiles, the Export Promotion Bureau said. In December alone, exports rose 26 percent to 934 million dollars from the same month a year earlier.<\/p>\n
The decades-old international quota system known as the Multi-Fibre Arrangement (MFA) that expired in December 2004 gave developing countries guaranteed access to developed countries’ markets for their textile products. Analysts and multilateral lending agencies had forecast smaller countries, such as Bangladesh, Vietnam and Cambodia, would be badly hit in the post-MFA regime to China and India with their vast economies of scale.<\/p>\n
Bangladesh — where over 4,000 garments factories account for three-quarters of export earnings and some two million jobs — was singled out for its poor infrastructure, unstable political situation and lack of integration in the textile industry.<\/p>\n
But the latest figures have dispelled the dire predictions.<\/p>\n
“Last year, we easily beat our main competitor China in these segments. In addition, many of our big factories are so swamped with export orders some had to refuse orders because of supply side constraints,” said Haq.<\/p>\n
The association’s figures showed that more than 150 new knitwear garment factories began production last year while a big number of existing companies ramped up their production capacities.<\/p>\n
Manufacturers had feared the ending of the quota system would wipe out thousands of jobs and force hundreds of smaller factories to close in Bangladesh.<\/p>\n
One analyst attributed the growth in exports to restructuring by garment factories and diversification of their export product lines.<\/p>\n
“Knitwear exporters have restructured their factories and are substantially integrated with backward linkage factories like finishing, dyeing and spinning,” said economist Mustafizur Rahman, a visiting Yale University professor.<\/p>\n
“That’s why they had an excellent time,” he told AFP.<\/p>\n
“Besides, many have diversified their export basket by going into new products like sweaters,” he said, adding US and European Union measures to prevent an influx of Chinese goods also helped Bangladeshi exporters.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Bangladesh garment exports rise 11 per cent, defying doomsayers AFP via Yahoo! News DHAKA (AFP) – Bangladesh’s readymade garment exports grew 11 percent in 2005 following abolition of global textile quotas, defying fears the trade rule changes would crush the sector, figures showed. Readymade garment exports rose to 6.89 billion dollars in 2005 from 6.22 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\n