Apparel exporters eye increased orders due to turmoil in Pakistan

FE Team | Published: October 21, 2007 00:00:00 | Updated: February 01, 2018 00:00:00

Siddique Islam
The country's apparel exporters think they might receive increased orders from overseas buyers as Thursday's suicide bombings in Pakistan have sent a wrong signal abroad.
Bangladesh's business leaders said the local exporters, particularly those in home textile sub-sector, should communicate with their buyers to collect orders, which are likely to be diverted from Pakistan to other countries like India and China.
Bangladesh is now competing with India, China and Vietnam in the global apparel market.
"We will pursue the exporters concerned for taking such advantage to collect fresh orders after suicide blasts on the homecoming procession of former Pakistan prime minister Benazir Bhutto in Pakistan," President of the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) Anwar-UL Alam Chowdhury told the FE Saturday.
He also said Pakistan is mainly exporting home textile products to the global market.
"Bangladesh's exporters may easily take such advantage by strengthening their business communications with overseas buyers," President of Bangladesh Corrugated Carton and Accessories Manufactures' and Exporters Association Safiullah Chowdhury said.
The country's export earning in July, the first month of fiscal 2007-08, marked a sharp decline of 21.08 per cent to US$ 902.33 million over that of the previous year.
The export earning also fell short by 32.72 per cent of the strategic target at $1341.25 million, according to the state-run Export Promotion Bureau (EPB) statistics, released on Thursday.
However, earnings from woven garment export declined by 23.61 per cent to $345.20 million in July over that of the same period of the previous fiscal. The strategic export target for the period was $499.50 million.
Earnings from knitwear also fell by 23.45 percent to $346.74 million over the same period of the previous fiscal. Its export target was $505.51 million, the data showed.
The suicide blasts that killed at least 138 people have affected normal life and also made a deep dent on the economic front as export orders worth millions of dollars are going to be diverted from Pakistan to other countries.
"I was expecting my buyers to visit on Saturday, but early in the morning I got an e-mail message about the cancellation of their visit which dampened the hope of securing immediate export orders, but they also threatened to cancel our future export contracts," The Dawn, a Pakistan's leading daily newspaper, said quoting a leading garment exporter as saying.
There was a sudden hate and disliking for Pakistani products and all western countries issued travel advisories to their nationals, restricting their visits, according to reports.
"I feel we are on the path of self-destruction. Now we have reached a point where it has started causing economic loss," the Pakistani business leader said.
Pakistan's exports grew by only 4.31 per cent to $2.963 billion during first two months (July-August) of the current fiscal over the corresponding period of the previous fiscal as such receipts stood at $2.841 billion.