Home ›› 19 Jan 2023 ›› Editorial
European Union and the US that constitute 80 per cent of Bangladesh’s export earnings are choking with persistently higher inflation shrinking our export basket. Yet after a lull in September and October the sector in November began to turn around with work order rising. But still the export growth in the sector is not satisfactory. Whatever growth the country has had so far after the global slowdown is not good enough for the survival of the sector and enhance the foreign currency reserve that continues to decline.
In a number of our previous editorials we urged the government not to put focus only on some countries for our foreign currency income. The country must have to expand its market to other places. If it can’t be done any kind of disaster in the sector may spell tragedy for the whole economy which is now reeling from the shock of the global downturn.
The two largest garment markets of Bangladesh – EU and UK – have shrunk following the Ukraine-Russia war. Their key concerns are not garments now. They are mostly concerned about the shortage of fuel and energy 40 per cent of which used to come from Russia. As the political conflict between Russia and EU sharpened centering the Russia-Ukraine war Russia stopped exporting fuel and energy to EU. The war also squeezed US market.
In the US, the single largest market of Bangladeshi garment saw a paltry growth of 1.11 per cent year-on-year in the first six months of the ongoing fiscal year although it was little better in the EU and registered a 16.61 per cent growth. Amid such slowdown in shipment from our garment industry to those largest markets Asian region is now emerging as the savior of the country’s garment sector. In the countries like Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Japan, South Korea and United Arab Emirate our garment exports are registering substantial growth. Experts and investors in the sector are hopeful about good days to come in near future.
Japan has now become a promising market for our RMG sector. The market in Japan has risen by 42.54 per cent between July and December of the current fiscal year. It can very soon peak for the sector if everything goes well and the government supports the sector. Garment exports to India, our neighboring country, have surged by 50 per cent. The prospect in South Korea is even better than India. In South Korea the export has soared by 35.66 per cent.
As for Malaysia it is almost cent per cent encouraging tremendously our export-oriented businessmen with a promise of new future destinations. Even after imposing 17 per cent duty on imported garment the export growth in Turkey has rebounded.
Faruque Hassan, President of Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association, while talking to the media said: “We are studying the Asian market very seriously as part of our roadmap. This is not a normal time for our garment industry as consumers in Bangladesh’s traditional export markets such the US, Canada and the UK and the European Union are going through a tough time owing to higher consumers prices driven by the global energy shortage and supply disruption.”
Latin America, Australia and Africa have also good prospects. The country has to explore more markets for its own survival. If at least export earnings can be boosted it will help the economy to brave the present onslaught. We believe that despite all those national and international factors Bangladesh has a bright prospect in the near future if it can tap the full potential.
Evidently, the government is also giving it a serious thought. We hope that the government along with the business community will prepare a road map to expand the markets in Asia to save Bangladesh at this critical juncture of the global economic scenario.
