The country’s export earnings from the United Kingdom in 11 months of the current financial year grew by 19.10 per cent to $3.44 billion from $2.89 billion in the same period of the financial year 2014-15 due to an encouraging performance of the readymade garment sector. Besides, Japan has already appeared as an emerging market for Bangladesh and the earnings from the market in the July-May period of FY16 stood at $981.92 million with a 17.12-per cent increase from $838.34 million in FY15, according to the Export Promotion Bureau data to be released today. Experts and exporters said both the markets have shifted their procurement orders to Bangladesh from China due to price competitiveness and they hoped that export growth in the destinations would increase further in the coming days. ‘Especially, Britain is a cosmopolitan nation and the huge number of tourists in the country is the buyers of garments and they want middle- and lower-end products. The UK is shifting their procurement orders to Bangladesh from China as the world’s second biggest economy is shifting its production to high-end and high-tech,’ Anwar-ul Alam Chowdhury Parvez, a former president of Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association, told New Age on Tuesday. He said that Vietnam could be the China plus country (import source alternative to China) for the UK but Vietnam shifted its production to high value-added products and Bangladesh gained the market share previously held by China in the UK. ‘Not only in the UK the export growth in the EU would also increase more in the coming days as Vietnam is occupied with the US market,’ Parvez said. He said that Japan was another promising market for Bangladesh as the country also shifted its procurement orders to Bangladesh from China. According to Parvez, after the US and the EU, Japan is the biggest apparel importer with 32 billion imports a year. The confidence of Japanese retailers have increased and Japan would be very good market for Bangladesh in future, he hoped. Khandaker Golam Moazzem, additional research director of Centre for Policy Dialogue, said that the Japanese currency devaluated by about 12 per cent against the dollar in last six months but its import from Bangladesh increased due to price competitiveness. He said that Japanese importers also shifted apparel sourcing from China due to an increase in price in the country and Bangladesh is getting advantage of the situation. Moazzem also identified three reasons for the moderate growth in the UK market. Recently the British currency appreciated about 5 per cent against the dollar that made their import less expensive and the UK is shifting more orders to Bangladesh considering it as a China plus country and the UK economic growth is higher than other European countries, he said. According to the EPB data, the RMG exports to the UK in the 11 months of FY16 increased by 21.90 per cent to $3.18 billion from $2.61 billion in the same period of FY 15. The RMG exports to Japan in the July-May period of the current financial year increased by 18.49 per cent to $704.8o million from $594.81 million in the same period of FY15. Data showed that export earnings from the US in the 11 months in FY16 grew by 7.68 per cent to $5.59 billion from $5.19 billion in the same period of FY15. The RMG exports to the US in the July-May period of FY16 grew by 6.62 per cent to $5.05 billion from $4.74 billion in the same period of FY15. Export earnings from India in the 11 months of FY16 grew by 29.86 per cent to $613.12 million from $472.12 million in the same period of FY15, data showed.
