Significant rise in apparel export unlikely this fall

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Jasim Uddin Haroon
Local apparel exporters do not expect any significant rise in apparel export orders this fall mainly due to the abnormal rise in fuel oil prices and the huge inventory of the major global retailers.
The local ready-made garment (RMG) sector has been hit hard, in terms of business, over the past few months mainly due to the huge inventory of the leading retailers.
The inventory of clothing occurred because of the weather conditions last year in the European countries and the USA.
The Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) has claimed that the export orders declined by around 25 per cent in recent months.
The Export Promotion Bureau (EPB) sources said the woven sector export dropped by 23.61 per cent and knitwear dipped by 23.45 per cent during the first month of the 2007-08 fiscal year over that of the corresponding period of 2006-07.
BGMEA first vice president MA Salam said that the slump of the RMG export will continue in the next few months.
"We don't think that there would be any major change in the fall/winter seasons. But we are hoping for better days in the next summer following the introduction of a monitoring system by the European Commission for the apparel exports from China in 2008," he added.
Restriction on exports of textiles from China will be withdrawn from January next and the EC has taken a decision to monitor export by that country so that its export cannot grow to a level that hurts the interest of other countries.
The buy order for the fall/winter season usually begins from early November and continues until December. The shipment starts from the end of February.
The BGMEA first vice president said a US move to encourage import of high-value apparels from Vietnam might help Bangladesh raise its export to that country.
"An apparel export resurrection might happen in the next Summer which begins from March and April following fresh decision by the EC and further refinement by the US government on the Vietnamese textiles," he added.
Sources said clothing of comparatively low value addition might shift to Bangladesh following higher value addition to Vietnamese exports.
The US government introduced refinements on the apparels from Vietnam, whose clothing export has risen to 7.0 billion.
Exporters also said sudden surge in the Swedish retailers of H and M will not help raise the local apparel sector as it imports apparels worth around $300 million a year from Bangladesh.
The Swedish retailer's sale rose by 25 per cent in September and the number of its stores also rose to 1452 from 1300.