The government has taken initiatives to increase the export share of high-value apparel items by addressing the problems in this connection, officials said.
As part of the initiatives, the World Trade Organisation (WTO) Cell in the Ministry of Commerce (MoC) has moved to appoint a consultancy firm for conducting a study to identify the challenges in exporting an increased volume of high-end garment products and suggest ways to overcome those challenges.
When contacted, Md Hafizur Rahman, director (joint secretary) of the WTO Cell, said: "Generally, Bangladesh exports low-grade garment products. If we can upgrade our output and move towards high-end products, the risk of lower growth of RMG export to international market will reduce."
He explained that the export earning from RMG sector will increase, if the local producers can export high-value items. Otherwise, the producers will not be able to meet the higher cost of production due to rise in wages of their workers. So, they should focus on raising the export volume of high-end RMG products.
"The export volume of high-value garment items is still negligible. We don't have adequate raw materials and own designers. We also have weaknesses in marketing our products," Abdus Salam Murshedy, Managing Director of the Envoy Group, told the FE.
However, at present, the country's many RMG producers are producing high-end fashionable garment items, he noted.
"We have to focus on quality and innovation of our RMG products to survive in the global competition with other countries," he added.
Although Bangladesh has not yet emerged as an industrialised nation, local RMG sector has flourished in the recent years. The sector is now dominating the national economy, in terms of its export earning.
Besides, it has created employment opportunities for around five million people in the country, the majority of whom are uneducated women.
Bangladesh exports 290 types of garment products to about 100 countries around the world. It is now the second largest garment exporter after China.
But the country's garment industry is not 'vertically integrated'. Considering the retail value of a garment item, Bangladesh only adds 6-7 per cent value domestically, according to a document of the MoC.
The value addition starts by importing cotton for knit garments and fabrics for woven garments. The domestic value addition needs to be increased to ensure sustainability of the garment industry in the long run, it mentioned.
Besides, diversification of export products and markets are still among the major challenges for the economy. Bangladesh only produces basic garment items, as local industry lacks skilled manpower and designers, the document read.
If the sector cannot produce high-end garment products, it may lose competitiveness in the world market. The country has only one fashion design institute -- the BGMEA University of Fashion and Technology (BUFT) -- established by the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA).
But the BUFT does not have any fashion design expert to train the new designers, it added.
Bangladesh has set a target to earn US$ 50 billion through RMG export by 2021. Currently, the country's share is around 5.0 per cent in the global apparel market.
The RMG sector is projected to earn about $ 35.62 billion and $ 38.73 billion in the fiscal year (FY) 2019-20 and FY 2020-21 respectively, according to a presentation of the Ministry of Textiles and Jute in December 2018.
The RMG export earning stood at $ 30.61 billion in last FY, 2017-18, from $ 25.49 billion in FY 2014-15, the base year of the projection, according to the presentation.
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