Income from exports of apparel products recorded a significant growth in the first three months of this calendar year, despite the prolonged political turmoil, the government data showed. Export of apparel products in July and August 2014 witnessed a 0.07 and 4.23 per cent growth compared to that of the same period in 2013. But export receipts fell by 2.06 per cent and 9.69 per cent in next two months-September and October—while it bounced back in November with 9.71 per cent growth in the same year. In December, the growth slowed down to 2.38 per cent while it has been maintaining a moderate growth since January 2015. The country fetched $2.41 billion, $ 2.10 billion and $2.07 billion in January, February and March with 7.98 per cent, 7.22 per cent and 8.40 per cent growth respectively in 2015 compared to the same period of last calendar year, according to the Export Promotion Bureau (EPB) data. Knitwear earnings stood at $9.06 billion and woven fetched $ 9.55 billion during the July-March of the current fiscal year 2014-14. But both the sectors failed to achieve the targets by 5.58 per cent and 3.89 per cent set for the period. Terming the growth positive, exporters and experts opined that the growth could be much higher in case of a stable political situation. Exporters claimed that the impact of recent political stalemate might be reflected in the data of May and onwards. “First, the apparel export growth since January does not mean that there is no impact of political turmoil on the sector,” Md Shahidullah Azim, vice president of the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) told the FE. The data showed orders and value of shipments made in four to five months back, especially in last August and September, he said adding: “We are lagging behind in the expected average growth of 10 per cent which is still only 3.18 per cent.” “We had to make timely shipments though many of these were very costly as manufacturers had to face air shipments, discount or deferred payment which the data never revealed,” he noted. The impact of political turmoil would b manifested in export earnings three or four months later, he said. He, however, said that buyers’ representatives in a recent meeting informed that some of them are planning to increase their work orders while many of them have already increased order volume. Fazlul Hoque, former president of the Bangladesh Knitwear Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BKMEA) said that production was going on in factories though the image of the country was tarnished by the recent political stalemate. Dr Khondaker Golam Moazzem, additional research director of the Centre for Policy Dialogue said despite all odds including political turmoil, the apparel export growth is positive though the overall growth is still below the expected level. Exporters had to bear additional expenses and challenges to retain competitiveness including the euro-zone ones are still there, he said. It is to be observed whether the growth is sustained or not.
Source: https://www.thefinancialexpress-bd.com/2015/04/08/88023
