The contribution of readymade garment (RMG) to the national export increases with the rebound of orders from international buyers following a recovery in the global economy, according to trade data of the Export Promotion Bureau.
The share of RMG products reached 77.17 percent in the July-November period from 77.15 percent in July-October of the current fiscal year.
During the July-November period, the country exported woven garments worth $2.13 billion and knitwear items of $2.59 billion totalling $4.72 billion.
The share of woven garments in the total exports of the country was 34.84 percent and that of knitwear (including sweater) was 42.34 percent, the data said.
During the five-month period, the total national export was worth $6.10 billion.
In fiscal 2008-09 the RMG contribution was 79.33 percent, while woven segment added 38.02 percent and knitwear items 41.30 percent.
Bangladesh exported woven garments worth $5.92 billion and knitwear worth $6.43 billion in 2008-09, registering growths of 14.54 percent and 16.48 percent respectively compared to the previous year.
Shahadat Hossain Kiron, managing director of Dekko Group, said the flow of orders from the international buyers was higher this winter compared to the last season as the global economy is recovering from the recession.
"The number of orders outpaced the capacity of my factories," Kiron said.
Chairman and Managing Director of SQ Group Ghulam Faruque said the situation is improving as the buyers are placing more orders.
"The trend of order placement indicates that the country's apparel export will go to its previous high level at the end of the year," he said. But the perennial problem of offering low prices by the buyers remained the same, he added.
The sign of recovery in the RMG export is also seen in the increasing trend of consumption of Utilisation Declaration (UD) by the exporters from their respective trade bodies.
Bangladesh had been experiencing a negative growth in UD consumption for the last few months because of low orders following the global recession.
The UD consumption improved in January by 4.0-5.0 percent compared to the same month last year, according to Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) data.
"But the concerns for Bangladesh are the sudden price hike of cotton by 25 percent on international market and yarn price rise on the local market by 30 percent as the Free on Board (FoB) value remained static," said BGMEA President Abdus Salam Murshedy.
If a commodity is quoted on an FoB basis it means the cost of the goods and their loading on to a ship are included but not the insurance or freight charges.
He said the exporters' cost increased as they have to send the goods by air to maintain the lead-time.
Recently the exporters are continuously failing to maintain the lead-time due to failure in on-time production caused by low gas pressure in the plants, he said.
Source: thedailystar.net
