The pangs of the ongoing global crisis have been
futile in affecting the buoyant apparel export figures of Bangladesh.
Bangladesh is creating history by surpassing India in exporting garments to US. The
country's exports to US have increased drastically by 10% since 2008 onwards,
while the export figures of India fell by 3%. Recession is having a devastating
effect on all export dependent economies. Collapse of the economies in US, and
EU has caused a spiky decline in the export dependent, and developing countries.
Despite global recession, textile exports surge in Bangladesh.
Countries like India and China that are performing well in
the global forefront have recorded decline in their sales figures during the
recent past in contrast to the double digit expansion during the past decade. Other
high performing counterparts like Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, and Thailand are also hit badly by the global crisis. But, the sterling performance of Bangladesh in exporting textiles, and apparels during the recession struck economy is
appreciable.
Bangladesh - A Low-end Textile Exporter:
Textile exports from Bangladesh displays a buoyant
performance. Knitwear and woven garment exports have increased by 41.8%, and
36.2 percent during December 2008 comparatively over the previous years
figures. Since Bangladesh exports low end textile products, their sales are
least affected by the economic crisis. Shoppers from the income declining
countries, who prefer to restrict their shopping budget, prefer to buy low end
garments imported from Bangladesh.
Fibre2fashion
had an exclusive interaction with Mr. Surinder Anand, Executive Secretary of
Garment Exporter's Association. He was assertive about the performance of Bangladesh clothing industry in the global market. He says, "Bangladesh apparel sector has overtaken India apparel exports, due to full support and blessings of
their Government and the labor laws are more flexible and conducive to operate
large labor intensive factories to obtain economy of scale"
The Executive secretary spoke about the Government support
for the textile sector. He says, "The Bangladesh Government is also
providing more fiscal benefits including exemption of export profit from the
levy of income tax besides other fiscal benefits. Bangladesh garment
manufacturers get fabric and other raw materials at international prices as if
they were buying these inputs from local suppliers".
The increasing cost pressures in India, and China and other East Asian countries are further enhancing the strategic shift of Bangladesh. 78% of the export earnings of the country come from textile and garment exports. The
sector accounts for 45% of the industrial employment having nearly 4 million
people involved. Major exports are polyester filament fabrics, man-made
filament mixed fabrics, PV fabrics, viscose filament fabrics and man-made spun
yarns. Garments such as knitted, woven shirts and blouses, trousers, skirts,
shorts, jackets, sweaters and sportswear, constitute a major share of exports.
Mr. Surinder also evaluated the support of Indian Government
regarding textile exports. He says, In India the procedural hassles and delays
proves expensive and discouraging for entrepreneurs to adopt this route. The
Indian Govt. had recently reduced duty drawback rates and lowered bank interest
rate subvention on export credit which must be restored immediately.
