Nepal garment makers shift focus to Indian market

In a conversation with fibre2fashion, president of Garment Association of Nepal (GAN), Mr. Uday Raj Pandey said, “We are currently focusing on India for garment exports since there is an increase in demand from the country for apparels manufactured in Nepal.”

“With the rapidly growing economy of India and increase in purchasing power of the people in the country, we hope to receive large import orders for clothing from the country,” he opines.

About apparel orders from India, he says, “We have received large orders for linen and nylon garments, since the quality of such clothing manufactured in Nepal is better than those produced in India.”  

In the first six months of the Nepali fiscal year 2012-13, that began on July 15, 2012, garment exports from Nepal dipped by 9.3 percent year-on-year to Np Rs. 39.25 billion. In the previous fiscal, Nepali apparel exports slumped by 11.2 percent year-on-year.

According to Mr. Pandey, there was a decline in Nepali garment exporters to the international market during the first six months of fiscal 2012-13, compared to the same period in the previous year. “Due to several reasons, we did not receive much import orders from the US and the EU. As a result, there was a decline in clothing exporters in last six months,” he informs.

Talking about the reasons for the dip in clothing exports, he says, “The main reason for the fall in apparel exports is the political instability in the country which is worrying both the sellers and the buyers. Also, during the period, we received clothing orders only from the European niche market.”

He adds, “Another reason for the dip in garment exports is due to the acute power shortage in Nepal. Since several garment manufacturing units in the country are working on generators, it adds to the cost of production of the finished goods.”

“Though we are exporting 70 percent of our apparels to the US, with new markets like India, we hope for a recovery in the garment exports in the next six months,” he concludes.     

Fibre2fashion News Desk - India