Country’s apparel-export earnings from Russia, China and Chile registered a colossal growth in the first quarter of the current financial year of 2016-17 while the earnings from most of the non-traditional markets including India, Turkey, Brazil and Australia suffered a negative growth in the period. Readymade garment export to Russia in the July-September period of FY17 registered a whopping 61.67 per cent growth to hit $49.10 million from $30.37 million in the same period of FY16, according to the Export Promotion Bureau data. Apparel export to China in the first quarter of FY17 grew by 42.35 per cent to $82.71 million from $58.10 million in the same period of FY16.To Chile, RMG export in the July-September period of FY17 grew by $38.84 per cent to $13.79 million from $9.93 million in the same period of FY16, the EPB data showed. Exporters said that RMG export to Russia registered an encouraging growth as the country reduced its import from Turkey due to political and other reasons and Bangladeshi suppliers were gaining the market share. They also said that China’s shifting from the production of basic garments to high-end products was the reason for the strong growth in Bangladeshi RMG export to China while the export to Chile witnessed a robust growth due to duty-free market access. ‘Recently the demand for Bangladeshi RMG products has increased in Russia as the country reduced its import from Turkey due to political reasons. Earlier, some Bangladeshi products were re-exported to Russia from Turkey, but now we directly export the products to the market,’ Abdus Salam Murshedy, president of the Exporters Association of Bangladesh, told New Age on Monday. He said Russia is a big and potential market for Bangladesh but Bangladeshi exporters are yet to gain the market share due to complicated banking system and non-tariff barriers. Faruque Hassan, senior vice-president of the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association, said that the payment system of Russia was being eased gradually and Bangladesh’s export there was also increasing. ‘Now we understand the Russian market better than before we did and our manufacturers are producing products suitable for the market,’ he said. Faruque said that Bangladesh would gain more share in the China market as the country reduced the production of basic garments and concentrated on fabric and yearn production. He said that China was shifting its production to high value-added products due to worker shortage and increasing production cost.China would meet the local demand for basic garments through import in future, Faruque said.He also said that the export growth in Chile increased as the country provided duty-free market access for Bangladeshi products from January this year. According to the EPB data, RMG export to Brazil fell by 56.11 per cent to $17.67 million in the July-September period of FY17 while the export to South Africa decreased by 24.46 per cent to $15.80 million. RMG export earnings from Australia in the first quarter of FY17 declined by 12.30 per cent to $142.81 million while the earnings from Turkey fell by 10.63 per cent to $102.44 million. RMG export to India in the July-September period of FY17 fell by 2.04 per cent to $36.41 million from $ 37.17 million in the same period of FY16, the data showed.
