RMG exporters see no major impact
Saturday, 29 December 2007
Jasim Uddin Haroon
Garment manufacturers, experts and local buying houses said there will be no major impact on the country's apparel sector following withdrawal of safeguard measures on apparel export by China to the European countries.
The safeguard measures, imposed by the European Union (EU) following robust growth of Chinese apparels to the European countries after the phase-out of the Multi Fibre Arrangement (MFA) in 2005, will expire December 31 next.
But, they said that it will create a challenge for some common items produced by Bangladesh and China following the withdrawal of the restriction on Chinese apparel export.
Local garment exporters, however, said that the prices of all kind of wears dropped considerably this year compared to last year but the volume of export order is encouraging.
The rate of cutting and manufacturing (CM) of garment wears has dropped by around 15 per cent over the previous year and the free-on-board (fob) value of apparels dropped by around 4.0 per cent over the same period, sources at the BGMEA said.
Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association acting president MA Salam told the FE Friday that the current level of purchase order is good although the restriction on the Chinese export by the EU will expire within a couple of days.
"I think there will be no major impact on our sector following withdrawal of safeguard measures by the EU on the Chinese apparel export as the supply orders we received so far for this summer is good," MA Salam said adding: "we will get a better idea on the implications of withdrawal by February next year or later".
Bangladesh exports apparels to European countries worth around $ 5.0 billion out of total apparel export worth $ 9.2 billion.
Mustafizur Rahman, executive director of the Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD) told the FE that the withdrawal of the restriction on China will create a challenge in case of common items.
He also said the local apparel sector will have to increase its competitiveness to combat the challenges on some common items.
Mustafiz, who conducted several studies on the impact of the withdrawal of the Chinese restriction, also said that improvement of efficiency, improvement of port and other logistics, uninterrupted power supply would help raise its competitiveness.
BGMEA vice president (Finance) Shamsuddin Ahmed told the FE that government policy support was required to face challenges on some common items.
Garment manufacturers, experts and local buying houses said there will be no major impact on the country's apparel sector following withdrawal of safeguard measures on apparel export by China to the European countries.
The safeguard measures, imposed by the European Union (EU) following robust growth of Chinese apparels to the European countries after the phase-out of the Multi Fibre Arrangement (MFA) in 2005, will expire December 31 next.
But, they said that it will create a challenge for some common items produced by Bangladesh and China following the withdrawal of the restriction on Chinese apparel export.
Local garment exporters, however, said that the prices of all kind of wears dropped considerably this year compared to last year but the volume of export order is encouraging.
The rate of cutting and manufacturing (CM) of garment wears has dropped by around 15 per cent over the previous year and the free-on-board (fob) value of apparels dropped by around 4.0 per cent over the same period, sources at the BGMEA said.
Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association acting president MA Salam told the FE Friday that the current level of purchase order is good although the restriction on the Chinese export by the EU will expire within a couple of days.
"I think there will be no major impact on our sector following withdrawal of safeguard measures by the EU on the Chinese apparel export as the supply orders we received so far for this summer is good," MA Salam said adding: "we will get a better idea on the implications of withdrawal by February next year or later".
Bangladesh exports apparels to European countries worth around $ 5.0 billion out of total apparel export worth $ 9.2 billion.
Mustafizur Rahman, executive director of the Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD) told the FE that the withdrawal of the restriction on China will create a challenge in case of common items.
He also said the local apparel sector will have to increase its competitiveness to combat the challenges on some common items.
Mustafiz, who conducted several studies on the impact of the withdrawal of the Chinese restriction, also said that improvement of efficiency, improvement of port and other logistics, uninterrupted power supply would help raise its competitiveness.
BGMEA vice president (Finance) Shamsuddin Ahmed told the FE that government policy support was required to face challenges on some common items.