The country’s export earning from the apparel industry has seen a 9.12% rise to $15.76 billion in first seven months of the current fiscal year, thanks to political stability and safety standard. Sector people attributed new markets, value added products, improvement of safety standard in the RMG sector and peaceful political situation helped get more work orders that led to the export growth. According to the provisional data of Export Promotion Bureau (EPB), in July-January period of FY’15-16, the overall export earning posted over 8% growth to $19.19 billion, of which over 82% came from the clothing industry. The data showed that the woven sector earned $8.16 billion with 12.29% growth and the knitwear sector received $7.6 billion with 5.91% rise. In the same period last year, woven sector earned $7.27 billion and knitwear fetched $7.18 billion. Pharmaceuticals earned $48.5 million while plastic $51.71 million and frozen foods $331million. “The better performance has been possible due to new market exploration and value addition to some products,” BGMEA senior Vice-President Faruqe Hassan told the Dhaka Tribune. He added that it would be tough to even achieve the 9% growth. Denim products have contributed to growth as well as market exploration as they fetched higher prices for manufacturers, said Hassan. Though the sector posted over 9% growth in first seven months of the current fiscal year, it has to go a long way to achieve over 11% growth to meet $50 billion export target by 2021. The BGMEA high-up focused on three challenge – energy supply, utility services and devaluation of currencies – to achieving the target. “To address the issues, we need policy support from the government including incentives again for export to European Union, tax reduction and support for expansion of existing business.” After the Rana Plaza factory collapse, the buyers were reluctant to put orders over safety concern. Exporters Association of Bangladesh (EAB) President Abdus Salam Murshedy told the Dhaka Tribune that since the factory inspection gave the retailers a positive message over safety, they have begun placing more orders that have helped move export earnings up. “Political stability has given us a cushion against smooth production and transportation to earn more compared to that over the last two years.” RMG sector is going through several challenges and the main challenge is that the competitive edge is being lost, he said, calling upon the government to address the issues. He added that credit goes to those brave and resilient entrepreneurs that ship products ignoring all hurdles.
