Sri Lanka's loss turns in to gains for Bangladeshi exporters

11 Oct '10

2 min read

EU's move to withdraw the grant of tariff free access facility to goods from Sri Lanka has proved advantageous for Bangladesh which is enjoying a rise in its garment exports among other benefits.

EU was likely to bestow Sri Lanka with the Generalised System of Preferences Plus (GSP+) status, but then considering Sri Lanka's abysmal human rights record after squashing the Tamil struggle, EU dropped the idea of granting the benefit.

The GSP+ status grants tariff free access to EU markets to 16 underdeveloped countries, for which the countries need to follow strict rules concerning a wide range of social and human right issues.

According to the state run Export Promotion Bureau's (EPB) statistics, RMG exports from Bangladesh far superseded the target's set for the initial two months of current fiscal.

The country while depicting 31 percent growth over corresponding period last fiscal, exported $1.60 billion worth knitwear during July and August, which is far above the set target of $1.21 billion.

For period under consideration, country's woven garment export too rose by 17 percent to stand at $1.31 billion, up from the target of $1.21 billion.

Experts here divulged that, the country is benefiting, as it is now getting the orders which Sri Lanka used to get earlier.

The country has also been able to snatch orders that Pakistan and China were to get, as Pakistan is facing adversities of massive floods, while China is troubled with dearth of low-paid labour.

Fibre2fashion News Desk - India

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