Bangladesh garment exports decline in July-Oct'14

18 Nov '14

2 min read

After surpassing the target of US$ 24.147 billion set by the Government for the fiscal year 2013-14 that ended on June 30, 2014, the exports of readymade garments (RMG) from Bangladesh turned negative in the first four months of the ongoing fiscal year.

In July-October 2014, the value of garments exported by Bangladesh stood at US$ 7.752 billion, as against exports of apparel worth $7.886 billion during the same period of the previous fiscal year, showing a decline of 1.7 per cent, according to the data released by the Export Promotion Bureau.

Category-wise, knitwear exports grew at 0.9 per cent to $4.058 billion during the four-month period, over exports of $4.022 billion during the corresponding months of the previous fiscal, the data showed.

The exports of woven apparel, on the other hand, declined by 4.4 per cent to $3.694 billion, compared to exports of $3.864 billion in July-October 2013.

Woven and knitted apparel and clothing accessories exports together accounted for around 80 per cent of $9.652 billion worth of total exports made by Bangladesh during the four-month period.

In fiscal year 2013-14, Bangladesh’s clothing exports surged by 13.83 per cent to $24.491 billion, compared to exports of $21.515 billion made in the previous fiscal.

For fiscal year 2014-15, Bangladesh has set an export target of $13.215 billion for knitwear and $13.681 billion for woven garments.

With the presence of more than 5,000 garment factories that together employ nearly 4.2 million workers, Bangladesh is currently the second-largest garment exporter in the world, next only to China. US, Germany and the UK are Bangladesh’s top export partners.

However, the advantage enjoyed by Bangladesh in RMG sector cannot be taken for granted, and the country’s competitiveness in the apparel export market may erode in the long run if working conditions do not improve, the World Bank said in its Bangladesh Development Update October 2014. (RKS)

Fibre2fashion News Desk - India

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