Bangladesh apparel exports surge as EU buyers shift from Sri Lanka: report Oct 08, 2010 (LBO) - Bangladesh's

exports of apparel are surging beyond projections as buyers from the European Union shifted orders ahead of Sri Lanka losing preferential duty concessions, a media report said. Sri Lanka is losing duty free entry to the EU of garments and a number of other exports this year over a state failure to fully implement international laws that protect human rights and political and civil liberties of its citizens. Bangladesh had exported knitwear worth 1.6 billion US dollars against a 1.21 billion target set for July and August 2010 which was up 31 percent from a year earlier, Bangladesh' The Daily Star newspaper reported. Bangladesh had exported woven garments worth 1.31 billion US dollars in July and August against a target of 1.12 billion, up 17 percent from a year earlier. The report quoting Ahsan Kabir Khan, managing director of Bangladesh's Interfab Shirt Manufacturing Ltd said there was a recovery of the global economy and a shift of orders from other buyers. Orders, which were supposed to go to Sri Lanka, are now coming to Bangladesh, the newspaper quoted Khan as saying. Pakistan was also losing orders due to flooding and China due to higher labour costs, the report said. The report said Bangladesh was also more competitive. Sri Lanka has exported 268.1 million US dollars of apparel in July 2010, down 11 percent from 301.3 million US dollars a year earlier. Year to date exports were down only 3.9 percent to 1,766.8 million US dollars, according to official data. The Daily Star said Bangladesh was also more competitive. The GSP+ was expected to end from the third quarter of 2010. In recent years Sri Lanka's exports to the EU has grown helped by the GSP+ concessions, while exports to the US, to whose currency the rupee is pegged weakened.

NEW DELHI, NOV. 28: In October, a month after India announced duty-free access to 46 apparel items from Bangladesh, exporters from that country have reported orders for readymade garment worth an estimated $90 million from India. The order inflows in just one month amounted to a quarter of the $360-million worth of readymade garments that Bangladesh is estimated to have shipped into India in the 12 months of the last fiscal (2010-11). A Bangladeshi industry delegation, which was in India late last week to reassess business opportunities, said it expects exports to India to touch the $2-billion mark over the next three years or so, going by the current trend. The India-Bangladesh Chamber of Commerce and Industry (IBCCI) delegation, in the course of deliberations with Indian textile and clothing industry bodies, conveyed that October's order inflow estimates were collated by the Bangladesh Government based on local industry inputs. These include orders from Indian retailers focussed on the domestic market and also from Indian exporters from locations such as Indore and Tirupur. In early September, India had announced duty-free access to 46 garment products from Bangladesh, including items such as pants, shirts, blouses, skirts, kids wear, cotton nightwear, jeans, swimwear and tracksuits. The Bangladeshi garments sector, despite lacking a raw material base, has emerged more cost competitive than the Indian clothing industry and now has an edge even over the Chinese garment industry in specialised clothing items such as woven garments and knitwear. Cheap fabric imports and phenomenally low labour costs back home are among the advantages that Bangladesh is using to the hilt. Coming at a time when labour costs are trending upwards in India and infrastructure constraints such as power and transportation bottlenecks continue to stymie the manufacturing sector, the option to source from Bangladesh is being seen as an increasingly viable option for Indian players. Amid the opportunities, Indian industry players have also raised apprehensions about zero duty entry for Bangladeshi garments indirectly offering Chinese fabrics duty-free access into the country. In the case of the Bangladesh-India pact, the Rules of Origin of exportable garment products are to be determined by the Agreement on South Asia Free Trade Area norms, which permits garment items made of imported fabrics to qualify for duty-free market access to India subject to the condition that at least 30 per cent value addition should take place in Bangladesh. Keywords: exporters, Bangladesh, readymade garments,