15pc RMG export growth likely this fiscal: BGMEA

---

Nizam Ahmed The export growth in the apparel sector of the country is likely to be more than 15 per cent in the current fiscal year (FY 2012-13) as the relevant manufacturers are continuing to get orders from overseas buyers, traders said Saturday. Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) leaders claimed that the two consecutive deadly fire incidents over the past two months did not stop continuation of exports. The garment sector has been continuing to get export orders from overseas buyers, who were however little bit slow in issuing new orders for few days immediately after the deadly fire in Tazreen Fashions Ltd, the traders said. At least 112 workers were killed and nearly 200 others were injured in the fire incident at Tazreen Fashions at Ashulia on November 24, while seven were killed and 10 others injured in another fire at Smart Export Garments at Mohammadpur on January 26. The traders said the trend of growth in garment exports was continuing and believed that if the growth continued in the coming months the aggregate exports in the garment sector would be much higher than those of the last FY (2011-12), when the amount crossed US$ 19 billion. "If the export growth continues as it has been in the past seven months, we hope the growth will be more than 15 per cent at the end of the current FY Insha Allah," BGMEA Senior Vice President Nasir Uddin Chowdhury told the FE. The earnings from exports of RMG (readymade garment) products, comprising knit and woven, rose nearly 9.0 per cent in the first seven months (July-January) of the current FY to $ 11.60 billion compared to the earnings during the same period of the last FY, according to BGMEA data. If the growth, which was around some 1.26 per cent on an average in each of the last seven months, continues without any hindrance, the aggregate garment exports are likely to go up to around $ 22 billion, as estimated by another BGMEA leader. However, other exporters hope that the garment exports to go up more in case increased orders come from buyers in countries like Russia and China. The RMG exports continued to increase as exporters could successfully reach their merchandise to new destinations in addition to their traditional markets in the European Union and the United States. The exporters are expecting to get more orders from new export destinations which also include Australia, Brazil, Chile, India, Japan, Mexico, South Africa, South Korea and Turkey. Bangladesh is now the second largest garment exporter after China. The garment sector earns more than 80 per cent of the nation's aggregate exports worth $ 24 billion annually and it occupies some 5.0 per cent of the global RMG trade of $ 412 billion, BGMEA sources said.