RMG helps Bangladesh outshine Pakistan in exports

20 Jul '12

2 min read

Bangladesh, which greatly depends on fabric imports for its garment manufacturing industry, has for the first time surpassed Pakistan in terms of overall exports.

Textiles and apparels constitute a major share of Bangladesh and Pakistan’s total exports, and any change in demand, supply or price of textile products in global market, directly impacts the overall exports of these two countries.

However, it was Bangladesh’s time to rejoice last fiscal, as a dramatic shift in international garment orders from China to Bangladesh greatly boosted the country’s economy and exports. Posting a year-on-year rise of 6.56 percent, Bangladesh’s overall readymade garment (RMG) sales for just concluded fiscal year grew to US$ 19 billion.

In fact, the low cost of labour has helped Bangladesh make a place for itself in the global supply chain for low-end clothing, making apparels for global brands.

This positivity in textile and apparel sector helped Bangladesh to achieve a US$ 24.3 billion mark in exports during last fiscal, more than Pakistan’s exports of US$ 23.6 billion during the corresponding period.

Due to its Least Developed Country (LDC) status, while Bangladesh enjoys zero or preferential tariff facility, particularly for its textile and apparel exports in global market, especially in the EU countries, Pakistani textile and apparel items are subjected to heavy duties.

Although Bangladesh missed the export target of US$ 26.5 billion set for the fiscal 2011-12, its export figures of US$ 24.3 billion was more than the previous fiscal’s exports figures of US$ 22.92 billion.

On the other hand, Pakistan’s exports during last fiscal plummeted by 4.71 percent from previous year’s exports of US$ 24.81 billion to US$ 23.6 billion.

Despite non-textile items constituting at least 40 percent of Pakistan’s exports, the country failed to sustain the increasing trend after 2010-11 fiscal, when its exports grew from US$ 19.29 billion to US$ 24.81 billion.

During 2008-09, 2009-10 and 2010-11, Bangladesh’s exports stood at US$ 15.54 billion, US$ 16.17 billion and US$ 22.982 billion, respectively, while Pakistan’s exports stood at US$ 17.69 billion, US$ 19.29 billion and US$ 24.81 billion, respectively, during the same period.

Fibre2fashion News Desk - India

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