Export earnings from the country’s garment sector are likely to fall short of the target by at least $1 billion in the current fiscal due to the political turmoil that rocked the country for over three months, exporters said. According to information, country’s garment sector—knitwear and woven—was set to bring $19549 million during the July-March period of the current fiscal year while it fetched $18626.28 million experiencing 9 percent shortfall of the target. Woven garment was set to bring $9605.11 million while it fetched $9068.88 million, which is 5.58 percent shortfall of the target. Knitwear sub sector was set to bring $ 9943.91 million during the July-March period while it fetched $9557.40 million, around 3.83 percent shortfall of the target. According to sources, garment sector is set to bring $27 billion out of the country’s overall export target of $33.2 billion in this fiscal year. “Garment export will likely to experience $1 billion shortfall of the target at the end of this fiscal year,” said Atiqul Islam, president of Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association, blaming aftermaths of Rana Plaza collapse and political violence for it. He, however, blamed devaluation of dollar and euro currencies for such bad state of garment export. EPB data said export earning of readymade garment sector in the last fiscal year was $24491.81 million against the set target of $24147 million. In the fiscal year 2012-2013, the sector had earned $21515 million while it was set to bring $21538 million. It needs around 10 percent growth in bagging revenue for the sector during the remaining months to make up the shortages, said Shahidullah Azim, vice-president of BGMEA, adding that it would be tough to achieve. Garment makers, however, blamed the political violence that took place during January-March period this year. They said the political turmoil had hampered smooth operation and discouraged the retailers from giving work orders here. Talking to this correspondent, an administrative officer of a local office of the Netherlands based buying house said work orders have dropped by 20 to 30 percent during the January-March period of the current fiscal year.
Source: https://www.daily-sun.com/print/back-page/2015/05/04/501278#sthash.r92eL9au.dpuf
