The country's terry towel exports will grow double digit in the current fiscal year as its main sub-continental rivals have shifted focus on manufacturing high valued textiles due to soaring costs of production, industry said on Sunday.
Exports of terry towel items such as flat woven, kitchen, beach or bathroom clothing will continue to boom in the next five-six years as a recent spike in labour cost has forced dozens of Indian and Pakistani manufacturers to wind up their operations.
"We expect more than 13 per cent growth in export in the current fiscal as our prime competitors are leaving the sector gradually," said Lt Col (retd) Anisuzzaman, president of Bangladesh Terry Towel and Linen Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BTTLMEA).
The country's terry towel exports grew a moderate 6.51 per cent in the fiscal year ending June 2008, when Bangladesh's 63 exporters earned over $112 million mainly from shipments to the European Union and the United States.
The demand for terry towels to the USA, which accounts for Bangladesh's 80 per cent export market, rose sharply in the recent months amid declining shipments from the subcontinent.
BTTLMEA president said terry towel manufacturers of India and Pakistan have shifted their focus to high valued textile items, as their production cost increased due to soaring wages and inadequate backward linkages.
"We are in much better shape than our competitors, despite the fact that we also face a number of problems such as power crisis," he said.
He said: "Bangladesh has a very good backward linkages as the manufacturers get more than 95 per cent yarn from local sources. Coupled with low labour cost, it makes our products more competitive."
Mr. Anisuzzman said the sector, which has so far created employment to around 30,000 people, will within a few years emerge as another big manufacturing sector after knitwear and woven garments and frozen foods.
He said new buyers from top European countries such as Italy, Britain and France have also increased interest on Bangladeshi terry towel, "because of our superior quality."
