Bangladesh has huge scope for gaining more space at the global garment accessories market but the local manufacturers are lagging behind due to lack of policy support from the government, said Rafez Alam Chowdhury, president of the Bangladesh Garments Accessories and Packaging Manufacturers and Exporters Association. He said that more than 1,400 accessories factories in the country were making products for the global market and meeting 95 per cent of the local demand for garment accessories but the sector was passing through various difficulties related to banking, customs and infrastructure. ‘We have targeted to mark the export earnings from garment accessories at $12 billion by 2018 but it would not be achieved as we are not getting policy support from the government at expected level,’ Rafez told New Age in an exclusive interview at his business office at Mirpur in the city. ‘We are making world-class accessories and giving support to the readymade garment, pharmaceuticals, ceramic and frozen food sectors to reduce their lead time of export but we are not getting expected support,’ he said. Rafez said that the global market size of packaging items was more than $700 billion which is bigger than the global RMG market and Bangladesh’s manufacturers had scope for gaining more share in the packaging market. As a backward linkage industry the garment accessories and packaging industry generated employment for four lakh people and fetched export earnings of $5.6 billion in the financial year 2014-15, he said. In early 80’s, when a few garment factories started to establish themselves as export-oriented factories, the need for garment accessories and packaging materials was started to appear. In mid 80’s, country’s entrepreneurs started to manufacture accessories and packaging materials and now the sector is capable of meeting the demand of country’s exporters, Rafez said. According to the BGAPMEA, out of the $5.6 billion export earnings from the sector in the FY 2014-15, the direct export accounted for about $1 billion. The RMG sector has set a target of export at $50 billion by 2021, on the 50th anniversary of Bangladesh, and to achieve the target the export earnings from garment accessories will have to be $10 billion, said Rafez, also managing director of Convince Zipper and Accessories Ltd. Within the next six years the export earnings from garment accessories would be threefold if the government removes customs-related problems and ensure efficient infrastructure, low interest of bank loans, he said. ‘We have requested the government to allow the BGAPMEA to issue utilisation permission certificates like the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association does to help manufacturers cut extra costs and avoid harassment,’ Rafez said. He said that the finance minister, AMA Muhith, had approved a proposal of the trade body in this regard four years ago but the decision was yet to be implemented. Rafez said that cash incentive was one of the most important factors to grow in the markets and most of the export-oriented sectors were getting the benefit but the accessories makers were still excluded from such benefit. The total investment in the accessories and packaging sector is $30 billion and the value addition of the sector is more than 30 per cent each year, he said. He said the growth of new investment decreased in recent time due to uncertainty of power and gas supply. Rafez’s Convince Zipper and Accessories started manufacturing of accessories in late 80’s and is now producing at least 30 verities of accessories and packaging products. Rafez thought that the sector needed special attention from the government to compete at the international market as most of the entrepreneurs in the sector were medium and small.
