Leather exports see recovery after recession

http://www.theindependentbd.com/business/finance/29117-leather-exports-see-recovery-after-recession.html
Leather exports see recovery after recession
AKRAM HOSSAIN
Dhaka, Jan 14: The country’s leather sector is moving swiftly to overcome the loss of sales caused by the global financial recession, taking advantage of surging international demand for leather and leather goods. The latest data published on the website of Export Promotion Bureau (EPB) showed that the country’s leather export earnings rose to US$ 128.72 million in the first half of the current fiscal year 2010-11 from $ 98.06 million in the corresponding period of the previous year—an increase of 31.35 per cent.
The EPB data revealed that the leather export target for the July-December 2010 period  was fixed at $ 139.33 million but leather exporters could ship goods worth only $ 128.27 million, which was 7.62 per cent lower than the target for that period.
An analysis of the EPB data showed that the country’s leather product export earning was behind target mainly owing to lower earnings from finished leather exports.
According to EPB data, total export earning of the leather products was $ 25.34 million in July-Dec, 2010 against the target for the corresponding period of $ 16.53 million,  or 53.30 per cent higher than the target.
Exports of leather product were 171.31 per cent higher than earnings of the same period of the previous year as the export earnings for that period (July-Dec) was $ 9.34 million.
Md. Sahin Ahmed, Chairman of Bangladesh Tanners Association, told The Independent that the country’s export earning of finished leather saw ups and downs in the past few years but earnings were expected to increase from now on mainly due to increasing global demand for raw hides and skins.
Sahin Ahmed expressed the hope that the finished leather exporters could achieve the export target of $ 293.94 million for finished leather in the fiscal year 2010-11, as the supply of hides and skins was good enough during the recent Eid-ul-Azha.
Four months months ago, when cattle in the whole country was affected by the anthrax scare, tanners were concerned over supply of hides and skins as the number of slaughtered animals was meager during that time, he said.
These worries ended as supply of hides and skins after the recent Eid-ul-Azha shot up, he added.
Export earning from leather products was lower than export earnings from finished leather due to the lack of technical knowledge, poor products and skilled workforce, he said.
“Many investors would invest in Bangladesh to set up modern leather product manufacturing company if bank loan with low interest rate, smooth supply of gas and electricity side by side establishment of training institutions ensured,” said an official of Bangladesh Finished Leather and Leather goods and Footwear Exporters Association (BFLLFEA).
To make quality leather product we need modern technology and trained workforce which facilitate to increase the export earnings of Bangladesh, the official of BFLLFEA said.
Despite of having a college of leather technology in Bangladesh, we could not get sufficient number of skilled workforces for this sector due to the shortage of necessary teachers in that college, the official said.
“If we get expert workers for both leather and leather product industry, country’s export earnings of these sectors would tremendously increase,” said the official.

Home textiles make a comeback

http://www.thedailystar.net/newDesign/news-details.php?nid=169658
Ready Made Garments
Home textiles make a comeback
Refayet Ullah Mirdha
The export of home textiles is on the rebound with the western world making a recovery from the global financial recession.
Manufacturers are expecting hefty profits as orders from international buyers soared with the changed economic situation.
Recovery came with a bang when the sector earned $296.01 million in July-December, registering a 77.75 percent growth from the same time last year.
The home textile export target fixed for fiscal 2010-11 is $563.50 million. Earnings amounted to $402.49 million in the year before.
Industry insiders said even in July of the current fiscal year, the export of the item witnessed a decline of 10 percent for an economic dip in the western world.
But in recent months, home textile exports surged, industry insiders said.
Nurul Afsar, company secretary to Noman Group, one of the largest home textile makers in Bangladesh, said demand for home textiles in the West increased significantly with recovery from recession.
“We are receiving plenty of orders from international buyers. But, prices of the item are still low even after the prices of raw materials have gone up worldwide,” Afsar said.
Noman Group exports goods worth more than $15 million a month, but the profit margin is narrow nowadays, Afsar said.
IKEA of Sweden, Heritage of Canada, Jionmax of Germany, Asda of UK and Carrefour of France are the group’s major buyers, he said.
A senior official of IKEA said the export of home textiles increased mainly because of an increase in the value and volume of products.
“The price of home textiles increased by 30-40 percent over the last few months because of a hike in the prices of raw materials,” he said, requesting anonymity.
Moreover, international buyers are shifting to Bangladesh from China and Pakistan, the two major destinations for home textiles, because of the price hike over high production costs.
He said the devastating floods in Pakistan last year damaged the cotton crop as well as the industry. “As a result, buyers are shifting to Bangladesh to meet the growing demand for the item in the western world,” he added.
According to Bangladesh Textile Mills Association, more than 469.7 million metres of home textiles are now produced a year.

UK-China company to invest $2m in Mongla EPZ

http://www.theindependentbd.com/business/others/28452-uk-china-company-to-invest-2m-in-mongla-epz.html
UK-China company to invest $2m in Mongla EPZ
UNB
Dhaka, Jan 10: A UK-China based company will invest US$ 2 million in Mongla Export Processing Zone (MEPZ).
Mongla Knitwears (Pvt) Limited, a UK-China company, will set up a Knit Garments and Sweater Manufacturing Industries in the MEPZ. The companies will also create employment opportunity for 2047 workers including 30 foreign nationals, a BEPZA press release said. The Bangladesh Export Processing Zones Authority (BEPZA) and M/s.  Mongla Knitwears (Pvt) Limited signed an aggrementto this effect at BEPZA Complex in the city on Monday.
M Moyjuddin Ahmed, member (Investment Promotion) of BEPZA and Che Chit Meng, general manager of M/s. Mongla Knitwears (Pvt) Limited signed the agreement on behalf of their respective organizations.

Bangladeshi Company Invest US$ 1.22 m in Uttara EPZ

http://www.bssnews.net/newsDetails.php?cat=2&id=158604&date=2011-02-01
Bangladeshi Company Invest US$ 1.22 m in Uttara EPZ

Uttara Export Processing Zone. Source: http://www.epzbangladesh.org.bd/

DHAKA, Feb1 (BSS)- M/s SA international, a Bangladeshi Company, will set up a Sweater Manufacturing Industry in Uttara Export Processing Zone.
Fully Bangladeshi owned company will invest US$ 1.22 million in setting up their unit to produce sweater items. The company will also create employment opportunity for 525 persons including 2 foreign nationals.
An agreement to this effect was signed between Bangladesh Export Processing Zones Authority and M/s SA International in BEPZA Complex, Dhaka yesterday.
Moyjuddin Ahmed, Member (Investment promotion) of BEPZA and Siddiqul Alam, executive partner of the company signed the agreement on behalf of their respective organizations.
Major General A T M Shahidul Islam, Executive Chairman of BEPZA, among others, were present at the signing ceremony.

Bangladeshi company to invest US$ 6 million in Ishwardi EPZ

http://www.bssnews.net/newsDetails.php?cat=2&id=159029&date=2011-02-03
Bangladeshi company to invest US$ 6 million in Ishwardi EPZ
DHAKA, Feb 3 (BSS)- Fujian Export Industry, a hundred per cent Bangladeshi company, will set up a garments Accessories manufacturing plant at a cost of US$ six million in Ishwardi Export Processing Zone.
An agreement to this effect was signed between the Bangladesh Export Processing Zones Authority (BEPZA) and Fujian Export Industry in BEPZA Complex today.
The outfit will create employment opportunities for 505 persons including two foreign nationals, said a press release.
Member (investment promotion) of BEPZA Moyjuddin Ahmed and Managing Director of Fujian Export Industry Zahir Uddin Haider inked the agreement on behalf of their respective sides.
BEPZA Executive Chairman Major General A T M Shahidul Islam and other officials from the respective organizations were present on the occasion.

$20b annual RMG exports knocking on door

New Age | Newspaper

Kazi Azizul Islam

Bangladesh can earn $20 billion from the shipments of readymade garments and some textile products by the end of this year.

The Export Promotion Bureau’s data showed that in the January-December period in 2010 the export earnings from readymade garments amounted to almost $15 billion with around 25 per cent growth.

Exporters, representative of importers and economist said that a robust growth of the demand for Bangladeshi garments last year and new market opportunities clearly indicate that even more growth is possible this year.

But they said that such opportunities can be missed if smooth supply of workers and energy and congenial worker-owner relations are not ensured.

A top executive of the Dhaka sourcing office of a major European retailer said that 2011 should be better than 2010 for Bangladesh’s garment sector due to more growth in shipments, both in terms of volume and value.

‘Demand from importers is really so high now that increasing garment export earnings by hundred per cent or even more is possible for Bangladesh, but growth may be similar to last year’s growth or slightly more due to poor infrastructures,’ he said.

He suggested that improvement of productivity in existing factories, increased supply of gas and power and development of more infrastructures are crucial factors now for the industry’s growth.

The EPB’s data showed that shipments in terms of value of readymade garments, in the January-December period in 2010, totaled $14,846 million against $11,892 million last year.

The EPB said that garment exports grew by 42 per cent to $8 billion in the July-December period of the current FY 2010-11

Shipments of textiles, terry towels and other textile products earned nearly $800 million in 2010, and observers say that their earnings can rise to between $1.2 billion and $1.4 billion in 2011.

In 2009 RMG shipments showed almost no growth as the tail impact of the severe recession in the EU and US markets caused decline in the demand for garments. However, Bangladesh’s export shipments on an average in that year did not decline like that of the other major apparel exporting countries.

Shafiul Islam Mohiuddin, the acting president of the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association, said that the local factories are seeing huge demand from global importers, and the simplified EU-GSP regime, effective from January 1, is set to bring more buyers to Bangladesh.

‘The government should work desperately for arranging short training courses for unemployed youths across the country as our factories can provide jobs for them, enhance production and increase exports as much as possible,’ he said.

Due to the shortage of electricity, most of the RMG manufacturers are raising production by ensuring even costlier supply of power from diesel oil-powered captive generators, said Mohiuddin. ‘The RMG industry hopes that the power supply situation will start improving soon. The government should act now to enhance the capacity of roads and rivers and ports so that transport of imported raw materials and shipments of finished products get speedier.’

He pointed out that demand by importers in the US and EU markets has already increased as many of them have diverted a portion of what they sourced to China to Bangladesh in the last few months, while the demand from new markets like Japan, Turkey, Korea and South Africa have pushed up shipments.

Khondaker Golam Moazzem, senior research fellow at the Centre for Policy Dialogue, said that the higher growth of garment shipments in 2010 was calculated on a base of low growth in 2009, but new market opportunities indicate that this high growth will be sustained in 2011.

‘Bangladesh is being regarded as a hub of sourcing by garment importers across the world, while enhanced market opportunities in Europe have opened up more scope for export,’ he added.

Moazzem advised the government to ask its embassies in Europe to proclaim the enhanced capacity of Bangladesh in making high value garments and the benefits that importers will get due to the newly provided zero duty on Bangladeshi woven garments.

RMG likely to fetch $30b in three years BSS

RMG likely to fetch $30b in three years

DHAKA, Jan 24: After qualifying for EU GSP facilities and entering of some companies with big brand names in the market, Bangladesh’s RMG export is likely to reach US$ 30 billion in next three years. At the same time, ‘direct sourcing’ of a number of big importers created an opportunity for readymade garments (RMG) manufacturers to earn 20 per cent more on their products.

Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) sources said world’s biggest RMG importer Inditex has opened a liaison office in Dhaka.

Hugo Boss and Addidas of Germany and Unocol of Japan also started functioning in Dhaka, along with surge of many small and medium scale importers and retail sellers.
Many importers now prefer Bangladesh to China, Vietnam, Sri Lanka, Turkey, Pakistan, Nepal and other countries as their destination for RMG import and they are interested to import items through direct sourcing. About 75 percent buyers have set up their offices in Bangladesh and others are rushing to open offices by one or two years, they said.

BGMEA president Abdus Salam Murshedi said the garment buyers are now gathering in Bangladesh due to global economic meltdown and huge hike of workers wages in China, Turkey and Vietnam.

At the same time, he said, the buyers are coming back from Pakistan and Nepal for political unrest and Sri Lanka cannot supply the order as per schedule.

“So, it appears to be a huge prospect for Bangladesh,” he said adding the quality of Bangladeshi goods, working environment, and relentless efforts of the manufacturers resulted in creating the confidence of the buyers.

Murshedi hoped that Bangladesh can up its RMG export to 30 billion in a couple of years and create 8/10 lakh jobs through proper use of opportunities.

According to the Export Promotion Bureau (EPB), Bangladesh earned around US$ 8 billion during first six months of this fiscal which is 41 percent more than the last year’s export. He said total RGM export will exceed US$ 17 billion at the end of this year against the target of US$ 14 billion.

Due to economic recession, Murshedi said, low priced commodities got popularity in European countries. Side by side, demand of high cost and quality products also have been increased.

To tap the huge opportunity, the BGMEA president said the port facilities should be improved and power and gas supply in the factories must be ensured. He also laid importance on better communication with Chittagong port and stable political situation for timely shipment as per orders of the buyers. President of Dhaka Chamber Asif Ibrahim said Bangladesh’s garment market has now expanded beyond Europe, America and Canada. South Africa, Latin America, Japan and Korea have opened up new horizon for Bangladesh. Even Bangladesh’s RMG is now being exported to India, Turkey and Sri Lanka, he said.

As Europe allowed Generalized System of Preference (GSP) facility for Bangladesh from January 1, 2011, the BGMEA leaders hoped it would help Bangladesh double its export to EU countries in 2/3 years from current US$ 7 billon.

Denim makers on a roll as new rules fall into place

http://www.thedailystar.net/newDesign/news-details.php?nid=169788
Denim makers on a roll as new rules fall into place
Refayet Ullah Mirdha
Businessmen are putting sizeable investments in the denim sector to cash in on the emerging prospects worldwide, thanks to the relaxation of trade rules and shifting of orders from China.
The industry owners are either expanding their capacity or setting up new plants as demand for denim products went up following a change in the fashion trends.
Previously, the majority of denim apparels were menswear and for winter season, but with the changing scenario, denim items are now made for men, women and children, and for all seasons, they said.
The relaxed rules of origin (RoO) by the European Union (EU) under its Generalised System of Preferences (GSP) opened up new opportunities for the denim sector, manufacturers said.
Under the new GSP rules, effective from January 1, exporters will get zero-duty facility even if the products are made from imported fabrics. Previously, the exporters used to get this benefit if only local fabrics were used.
The demand for local denim will rise due to such flexibility in GSP rules. Till now, the garment makers were importing fabrics from China, India, Pakistan and Indonesia, costing at least 45-day lead-time, experts said.
If the Bangladeshi garment makers get the fabrics from the local market, they will not import at higher costs, lead-time and freight charges, they added.
At present, 21 domestic denim makers supply 40 percent of the demand, while the remaining 60 percent is imported. On an average, every factory has a production capacity of six lakh yards per month.
Managing Director of Partex Denim Showkat Aziz Russell said he is investing another Tk 350 crore to raise the production capacity from 2 million yards per month to 4.5 million yards.
The relaxed RoO have both pros and cons, as the garment manufacturers will get zero-duty facility either way under the new GSP rules. “But, we have the advantage of lead-time now,” Russell said.
Syed Mohammad Kamruzzaman, a marketing executive of Ha-Meem Denim, said they will start production in the expanded unit of its Mauna factory, which has doubled its capacity to 1.7 million yards from 8.5 lakh yards per month.
The company invested Tk 100 crore for the expansion, he said. “We are waiting for the government’s permission for new gas connection. We hope to start production from June or July,” he added.
Obaydul Hoque, an adviser to Silver Denim Composite Ltd, said they are setting up a Tk 300 crore factory to produce eight lakh yards of denim fabrics per month, and will go for production within a year.
“The relaxation of the GSP rules is an added advantage. But we are predicting better future of denim in Bangladesh due to the China factor. Bangladesh will enjoy the advantage of lead-time in the demand driven market,” he said.
Hoque said the demand for Bangladeshi textile products is increasing since China, the largest apparel supplier in the world, is shifting its attention to other industries. Bangladesh is a good place for international buyers for its relatively lower production cost, he added.
In September last year, Nitol Group signed an agreement with Arvind, the largest denim company in India, to set up an 80:20 joint venture plant in Bangladesh under Comilla Export Processing Zone.
The investment will be about $69 million over a period of three years. In the first phase, a plant of 10 million-metre capacity will be set up at about $25 million and then it will be scaled up gradually.
Foreign investment is coming in the denim sector because the country has ready consumers and it enjoys the GSP facility to EU. Bangladesh exports products worth over $6 billion a year to EU, of which 90 percent are garment items.
Executive Director of Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD) Mustafizur Rahman said the peaking demand should depend on competition. “If we can supply denim at a competitive price then the demand will increase obviously,” he said.
Although the backward linkage industries will face competition due to the EU move, Bangladesh has the advantage of reduced lead-time and transportation cost, he added.
Zillul Hye Razi, trade adviser to EU trade delegation to Bangladesh, said many more denim factories will come into production in the near future.
“If we can supply quality fabrics at a competitive price, the manufacturers will not go to other countries because Bangladesh will enjoy lead-time facility here,” Razi said.
Abdul Hai Sarker, former president of Bangladesh Textile Mills Association, said in the long run there will be a negative impact on local backward linkage industries’ growth in the textile sector.
“The backward linkage industries would be at risk because the manufacturers will get zero-tariff benefits if they make garment from the fabrics of other countries,” Sarker said.
Jahangir Karim, a teacher of a fashion and design institute, said now denim jeans for both men and women are in the market. “The denim products match almost all designs now and they are made for all seasons,” Karim said.
Jalal Ahmed, vice-chairman of Export Promotion Bureau, said in fiscal 2009-10 Bangladesh exported knitwear worth $4.71 billion and woven garment products worth $2.47 billion to EU. During the same period the country exported knitwear worth $891 million and woven garments worth $2.73 billion to the US.
“We are expecting a higher growth of both knitwear and woven garment to EU from now because of the latest EU move on GSP,” Ahmed said.

RMG sector earning may reach $30-35b in 4-5 yrs

http://www.thefinancialexpress-bd.com/more.php?news_id=122728&date=2011-01-13
RMG sector earning may reach $30-35b in 4-5 yrs
FE Report
The earning from garment sector may be taken up to US$ 30-35 billion in the next 4-5 years by ensuring power, infrastructure and port facilities, and maintaining law and order situation, said FBCCI President A K Azad.
The Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FBCCI) chief said the local RMG industry’s growth was 40 per cent last year, and it will start increasing significantly within a short time. For this the government has to ensure logistic supports for the sector.
He said these at the inaugural ceremony of International Apparel Machinery, Fabrics and Accessories Tradeshow of Bangladesh at Bangabandhu International Conference Centre in the city Wednesday.
The three-day fair was jointly organised by Zakaria Trade and Fair International and ASK Trade and Exhibitions Pvt Ltd. It will continue from January 12 to 15, and as many as 150 companies from 24 countries will display their products at the 10th edition of Garmentech Bangladesh and IFA Sourcing Fair.
Industries Minister Dilip Barua was present as the chief guest of the programme.

Garmentech starts tomorrow

http://www.thedailystar.net/newDesign/news-details.php?nid=169609
Garmentech starts tomorrow

Source: http://www.garmentechdhaka.com/

Star Business Report
The 10th edition of Garmentech starts tomorrow at Bangabandhu International Conference Centre in Dhaka to exhibit the latest technologies and machinery of the garment sector.
Zakaria Trade and Fair International and ASK Trade and Exhibitions Ltd jointly organise the event that ends on Saturday, said the organisers at a press meet at Dhaka Reporters Unity yesterday.
In the show, 150 participants from 25 different countries will participate. The fair will remain open for all from 10:30am to 7pm everyday without any entry fee.

Sunman sets up country’s largest home textile plant

http://www.thefinancialexpress-bd.com/more.php?news_id=122352&date=2011-01-09
Sunman sets up country’s largest home textile plant
Tk. 8.0b plant to cash in on EU relaxed import rules.
Jasim Uddin Haroon
Sunman Group said Saturday it is setting up the country’s largest home textile plant to grab new-found opportunities in the European Union’s four billion dollars bed-sheet and curtain market.
The clothing-to-beverage maker is investing more than eight billion taka in a state-of-the-art plant at Iswardi export processing zone, which will go into operation mid-2012, its CEO said.
“We have bought 57 plots covering a third of the Ishwardi EPZ. Some 70 per cent of the civil work has been completed,” said Shafiqur Rahman, the Chief Executive Officer of the group.
The plant will have a capacity to produce 100,000 yards of bed sheet and curtains a day, making it the country’s largest home textile manufacturers.
The investment has been fast-tracked after the EU last month relaxed its import rules, allowing products with 30 per cent value addition to get duty-free access in the world’s second largest clothing market.
Earlier a manufacturer had to add at least 60 per cent value in Bangladesh to get free market access to the highly-lucrative market.
Rahman said the $4 billion EU market is their prime target but products of the new facility will also be shipped to the US, Japan and Australia.
The factory will manufacture all kinds of home textile under one roof. It will make yarn from imported raw cotton and then weave it into fabrics such as bed sheet, cushion cover, decorative pillow and curtain.
Sunman’s CEO said the nearly $200 million group went ahead with the investment despite acute shortages of gas and energy in the country.
“The EPZ authority has assured us of supplying power and gas once we go into production in mid-2012,” he said.
General Manager of the EPZ, situated 220 kilometre north-west from Dhaka, said the massive Sunman plant has changed the once-staid atmosphere at the industrial park.
Launched in 2000-1, the country’s eighth EPZ had to wait five years to see its first investment. Since then it has wooed a few top names including Rahmafrooz’s 25 million dollars automotive battery plant.
Experts said the latest investment in home textile would make Bangladesh one of the top players in global bed sheets and cover markets.
Presently, Pakistan is the largest home textile exporter, both in the key US and the EU. Islamabad exported 685 million euro worth of home textile in EU in 2009, followed by Turkey worth 600 million euro.
Bangladesh with an annual shipment of 185 million dollar is also a top-five exporter in the EU. “We shall be in the race for top position once our plant goes into production,” said Rahman.
Textile millers said political and security problems in Pakistan have forced many buyers to search new import destinations with Bangladesh drawing most attention because of its low-cost labour.
“We’ve abundant cheap labour and our workers also learn quickly — the ideal conditions for home textile growth,” former Bangladesh Textile Mills Association president Abdul Hye Sircar said.
Mr Hye said: “This is an area where profit is guaranteed as China is becoming costly and Pakistan has been in troubles for some time.”
Sunman’s project, named Sunman Industrial Corporation, is being funded by a consortium of local financial institutions led by One Bank.
The banks are financing 60 per cent of project outlay while the company is investing the rest from its own coffer.
Zillul Hye Razi, trade adviser of European Commission’s trade delegation in Dhaka, said the EU’s relaxed import rules would boost Dhaka’s home textile export to the 27-nation economic block.
According to new EU rules of origin (ROO), Bangladeshi companies can be able to export homes textiles by sourcing fabrics from a third country.
“All an exporter needs is to dye and complete the products here under the new ROO, which became effective from first day of the new-year,” Razi said.
“I think this is the right time for Bangladeshi entrepreneurs to invest in the sector,” he added. “There is also huge export potentials in the US market.”
Nurul Islam, chairman of Noman Group — the country’s largest home textile maker — said arrival of a new player will enhance competitiveness and raise Dhaka’s global market share.
“It will create new challenges and opportunities for us,” Islam said, adding in the short-term the country may face shortage of skilled labour.
At present, Bangladesh has only eight export-oriented home textile mills: seven in the greater Dhaka district and one in the port city of Chittagong.
Noman Group exports around 20 million US dollars worth of home textile each month. Other producers include Alltex, ACS Textile, Sad Musa, Regent, JK Group and Classical Home.

RMG boost in US market

Staff Correspondent
Bangladesh has edged past Mexico and Indonesia taking the third position in exporting apparels to the US market.
Until August 2010, the country was ranked fifth, trailing behind China, Vietnam, Indonesia and Mexico.
In September, the country exported apparel products worth $358 million, overtaking Mexico with $325 million in garment exports, said Bangladesh Embassy in Washington in a statement on Thursday.
The next month Bangladesh’s export volume of clothing items reached $374 million which was higher than Indonesia’s, said the commerce wing of the embassy. Indonesia in October sold products worth $365 million to the world’s largest economy.
Bangladesh exported about $1.44 billion worth of readymade garments to the USA between July and October in 2010, posting 20.37 percent growth on the corresponding period in 2009.
In terms of growth of garment exports, Bangladesh is just behind China with 21.15 percent growth, while ahead of Vietnam with 17.26 percent, Indonesia 16.17 percent, Mexico 13.49 percent and India with 13.25 percent growth.
If the same growth trend continues, the country will overtake Vietnam in the near future, said the embassy statement, calling for concerted efforts from all stakeholders and asking them to avoid labour related problems in the RMG sector.
In the first five months of the current fiscal year, the country’s overseas apparel sales grew by 36.36 percent compared with the same period last fiscal year.
Knitwear exports were up by 36.56 percent to $3.6 billion, while exports of woven garments grew by 35.83 percent to $2.89 billion.
The RMG sector, which employs over 30 lakh workers, mostly women, has targeted to reach $20 billion export volume by the next three years from over $12 billion in the last fiscal year.

Simplified market access to EU cheers export industry

Kazi Azizul Islam
The export industry is upbeat about the EU, the largest market destination for Bangladesh, simplifying market access to the LDCs from January 1.
For Bangladesh’s apparel industry, simplification of market access would mean attires made of imported fabrics or less of value addition would get duty free access to Europe.
More than two thirds of Bangladesh’s export shipments are destined to European countries and they imported $5.72 billion worth of Bangladeshi goods out of $8.3 billion, the entire exports in five months of the current fiscal in November.
Until now, more than 90 per cent of Bangladeshi knitwear shipments enjoyed duty-free access to EU but around one third of the shipments of woven or cut and sewn apparels did not enjoy the facility.
With the Europeans leaning to diversify imports from Bangladesh and buy high value apparels from it due to costing, some in the industry, however, are for raising the prices for the Europe bound shipments for the development of the industry and its workers.
Zillul Hye Razi trade adviser to the delegation of the European Commission in Dhaka described the EU decision to simplify the import regime from the LDCs as the beginning of a new chapter.
He called it a liberal market access for Bangladesh and other LDCs to the European market.
Razi said new EU trade regime would provide duty free market access to non-textile exports as well.
Sayeeful Islam, chairman of the Concorde Garments Group, a leading exporter of shirts, said that simplified market access created a new opportunity to export to Europe high value products.
He, however, advised that the exporters need to remain rationally aware that the EU measure aimed at the development and welfare of the industry and workers in the LDCs.
He said explaining that if a shirt made in Bangladesh cost a European buyer $5.65 with 13 per cent duty earlier, from January 1 it would cost $5.
He said that the industry needed to develop negotiating skills if wanted justify why wanted to increase the price of export products.
The Centre for Policy Dialogue executive director, Professor Mustafizur Rahman, described the new EU trade regime as a ‘golden opportunity’ for Bangladesh.
‘It would,’ he said, ‘open up newer opportunities for the export of apparels, especially of woven and high value knitwear and outerwear as well as non-textile products.’
But he cautioned that the scope to import fabrics and yarns, it would create, could take away the competitive edge of the domestic backward linkage textile industries.
He, therefore, advised the government to provide cash incentives and other support measures to encourage the use of local fabrics and yarns.
Professor Mustafiz also advised the government to enhance trade facilitation service to the exporters so that they could overcome all non-tariff barriers to exploit the diverse high value marketing opportunities in the EU.

Simplified market access to EU cheers export industry

http://newagebd.com/newspaper1/business/3503.html
Simplified market access to EU cheers export industry
Kazi Azizul Islam
The export industry is upbeat about the EU, the largest market destination for Bangladesh, simplifying market access to the LDCs from January 1.
For Bangladesh’s apparel industry, simplification of market access would mean attires made of imported fabrics or less of value addition would get duty free access to Europe.
More than two thirds of Bangladesh’s export shipments are destined to European countries and they imported $5.72 billion worth of Bangladeshi goods out of $8.3 billion, the entire exports in five months of the current fiscal in November.
Until now, more than 90 per cent of Bangladeshi knitwear shipments enjoyed duty-free access to EU but around one third of the shipments of woven or cut and sewn apparels did not enjoy the facility.
With the Europeans leaning to diversify imports from Bangladesh and buy high value apparels from it due to costing, some in the industry, however, are for raising the prices for the Europe bound shipments for the development of the industry and its workers.
Zillul Hye Razi trade adviser to the delegation of the European Commission in Dhaka described the EU decision to simplify the import regime from the LDCs as the beginning of a new chapter.
He called it a liberal market access for Bangladesh and other LDCs to the European market.
Razi said new EU trade regime would provide duty free market access to non-textile exports as well.
Sayeeful Islam, chairman of the Concorde Garments Group, a leading exporter of shirts, said that simplified market access created a new opportunity to export to Europe high value products.
He, however, advised that the exporters need to remain rationally aware that the EU measure aimed at the development and welfare of the industry and workers in the LDCs.
He said explaining that if a shirt made in Bangladesh cost a European buyer $5.65 with 13 per cent duty earlier, from January 1 it would cost $5.
He said that the industry needed to develop negotiating skills if wanted justify why wanted to increase the price of export products.
The Centre for Policy Dialogue executive director, Professor Mustafizur Rahman, described the new EU trade regime as a ‘golden opportunity’ for Bangladesh.
‘It would,’ he said, ‘open up newer opportunities for the export of apparels, especially of woven and high value knitwear and outerwear as well as non-textile products.’
But he cautioned that the scope to import fabrics and yarns, it would create, could take away the competitive edge of the domestic backward linkage textile industries.
He, therefore, advised the government to provide cash incentives and other support measures to encourage the use of local fabrics and yarns.
Professor Mustafiz also advised the government to enhance trade facilitation service to the exporters so that they could overcome all non-tariff barriers to exploit the diverse high value marketing opportunities in the EU.

Bangladeshi Company to invest US$ 22.452 million in Ishwardi EPZ

http://www.bssnews.net/newsDetails.php?cat=0&id=100454&date=2010-04-13

Bangladeshi Company to invest US$ 22.452 million in Ishwardi EPZ

DHAKA, Bangladesh, April 13 (BSS) – A Bangladeshi company named M/s Vintage Denim Studio Limited will set up a Garments Manufacturing Industry in the Ishwardi Export Processing Zone.

This 100 percent locally owned company will invest US$ 22.452 million to set up their plant for producing garments item. The company will also create employment opportunities for 6,256 Bangladeshi nationals.

An agreement to this effect was signed between the Bangladesh Export Processing Zone Authority (BEPZA) and M/s.Vintage Denim Studio Limited in the BEPZA Complex here today, a BEPZA press release said.

Apparel shipments to Japan on sharp increase

http://www.newagebd.com/2010/apr/14/busi.html#1

Apparel shipments to Japan on sharp increase

A file photo shows a garment worker is working at a factory in Narsingdhi. — AFP photo

Kazi Azizul Islam

While Bangladesh’s apparel shipments to its major markets, the USA and EU, are either static or declining, shipments to Japan have risen continuously this year, said industry watchers.

Quoting the latest report, officials of the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association said that the country’s apparel shipments to Japan in the Jan-Feb period of the current year amounted to 1,383 million yen or $25 million.

In terms of value, the shipments have grown by more than one hundred per cent over the same period of the previous year. The amount of export was around $12 million in Jan-Feb last year.

Bangladesh’s apparel shipments, annually amounting to $12 billion plus globally, were less than $40 million to Japan in 2007. Annual shipments increased to $52 million in 2008 but in 2009 increased sharply to about $125 million.

‘Bangladeshi exporters are increasingly getting larger volumes of orders,’ one exporter of jeans told New Age.

Takashi Suzuki, the president of the Japan Bangladesh Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said, ‘Bangladesh’s apparel shipments to Japan will grow more and more and more in the coming days.’

He told New Age that jeans, shirts and sweaters made in Bangladesh are being admired by the Japanese shoppers and are being showcased by top Japanese retailers like Uniqlo and Shimamura.

The Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association’s president, Abdus Salam Murshedy, said that the high growth in shipments to Japan has provided a ray of hope to the industry as exports to Western markets have been dull in recent months.

‘Maybe the amount of our apparel exports there (Japan) is still small but the Japanese importers’ growing confidence in us has made the industry optimistic that we will have a bigger share of the Japanese market in the next few years,’ he added.

Murshedy informed New Age that a market promotion delegation of the BGMEA would visit Japan next month in order to find new openings in that market and interact with the buyers there.

Japan imports $28 billion worth of apparels and China, the biggest supplier, controls 80 per cent of the market. Vietnam, which exports garments worth $1 billion to Japan, stands as the second largest supplier, followed by Indonesia, India and Myanmar.

Local knitwear exporters told New Age that growth in shipments would have been more if Japan’s rules of origin on knitwear imports had been less stringent.

The Bangladesh Knitwear Manufacturers and Exporters Association’s president, Fazlul Hoque, said that Japan’s rules with regard to duty-free access of goods from Bangladesh and other developing countries require that even the knitwear yarns are produced locally.

‘As the special yarns that are required to make fashionable knitwear and hosiery are mostly unavailable in Bangladesh, Japanese imp-orters are reluctant to import them because they won’t get the benefit of duty-free access,’ Hoque pointed out.

‘The Bangladesh government should persuade the Japanese government to relax the rules of origin for knitwear shipments,’ said Hoque, who led at least two market promotion delegations to Japan last year.

Ventura to invest $8.142m in Karnaphuli EPZ

http://www.thedailystar.net/newDesign/news-details.php?nid=134905

Ventura to invest $8.142m in Karnaphuli EPZ
Star Business Desk

A Bangladeshi company will set up a garment-manufacturing factory at Karnaphuli Export Processing Zone at $8.142 million.

The 100 percent locally owned company Ventura (Bangladesh) Ltd will establish a plant to produce garment items employing over 4,000 people, including 132 foreign nationals.

Md Moyjuddin Ahmed, member (investment promotion) of Bangladesh Export Processing Zones Authority (Bepza), and Sarowar Hossain, managing director of Ventura, signed a deal at Bepza complex yesterday.

BGMEA to set up warehouse in Spain

http://www.thedailystar.net/newDesign/news-details.php?nid=135220

BGMEA to set up warehouse in Spain
Unb, Dhaka

Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) will set up a warehouse in Spain to ease its business operations in the European market.

An agreement was signed between BGMEA and Yu-Kom-Publicidad SL, a Spanish company, at the BGMEA headquarters in Dhaka yesterday.

BGMEA President Abdus Salam Murshedy and Nuria Lopez of Yu-Kom-Publicidad SL signed the agreement.

Yu-Kom-Publicidad will provide unloading facilities for BGMEA members if any company refuses their shipment, allowing the shipment to be stocked at the warehouse until they can be sold at proper prices.

It may be mentioned here that Bangladesh exported a total of $7.218 billion readymade garments to the European Union in fiscal 2008-09.

BGMEA to set up world class lab for apparel chemical tests

http://www.thedailystar.net/newDesign/news-details.php?nid=135509

BGMEA to set up world class lab for apparel chemical tests
Refayet Ullah Mirdha

Bangladesh is going to launch a world class testing firm for the first time in the country to conduct chemicals and dyes tests of exportable apparel items, said Abdus Salam Murshedy, president of Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA).

At present, the apparel exporters test the samples of exportable goods from different foreign testing firms for certification.

BGMEA will sign a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Spanish giant clothing retailer brand Inditex at Luck AÑO in Spain on April 29.

“Inditex will provide all technical and other supports to build the testing firm at BGMEA office,” Murshedy said.

Inditex Group, one of the world’s largest fashion retailers, has 4.607 stores in 74 countries.

The group comprises more than 100 companies operating in textile design, manufacturing and distribution.

The BGMEA leader also said exporters will have to pay $30 for every test from the proposed testing firm. The charges payable to some recognised testing firms like Bureau Veritas, SGS and ITS range from $200 to $300 per test.

“The country will immensely be benefited by the proposed testing laboratory, as time and cost for such tests will come down significantly,” Murshedy said.

Professor Dr AAMS Arefin Siddique, vice-chancellor of Dhaka University, Abdus Salam Murshedy, all four vice presidents of BGMEA.—Nasir Uddin Chowdhury, Md. Shafiul Islam Mohiuddin, Faruque Hassan and Md. Siddiqur Rahman— are scheduled to attend the MoU signing ceremony in Spain.

Teachers, students and experts from the Department of Chemistry at Dhaka University will cooperate in setting up the testing firm.

Largest shoe plant in the making

http://www.thedailystar.net/newDesign/news-details.php?nid=135914

Largest shoe plant in the making

Abdullah Al Mahmud, back from Anowara

A $110 million shoe factory is being set up at the Korean Export Processing Zone (KEPZ), with remarkable progress in infrastructure development in the last two years.

Karnaphuli Shoe Industries Ltd, a company of Korea-based Youngone Group, will be the largest in Bangladesh with a monthly production capacity of 30 million pairs. Sixteen buildings are being built on two adjoining hills to house the factory.

The factory will provide employment for 32,000 people to work in 72 production lines, said Lt Col (retd) Md Shahjahan, general manager of KEPZ Corporation (BD) Ltd, another company of Youngone Group. KEPZ Corporation (BD) Ltd is in charge of developing the EPZ.

It will go for trial production after four of the eight buildings on the lower lap are completed by September, he said.

Karnaphuli Shoe Industries is setting up the factory to encourage other intended entrepreneurs into the sector and address the initial setbacks that one might face in setting up a factory at the newly developed EPZ site, Shahjahan said.

A total of 2,700 acres were allocated through gazette notification back in 2000 to develop the EPZ on the bank of the river Karnaphuli in Anowara upazila.

Seventy-five percent of the land was government-owned, while the rest 25 percent had to be acquired from private owners, the official said. Of 2,700 acres of the allocated land, 2,492 acres have so far been handed over to KEPZ.

However, the authorities could not develop infrastructure or initiate construction of any factory before operating licences were issued in 2007, Shahjahan said.

“After that, we proceeded with infrastructure development, keeping the hilly landscape almost undisturbed.”

“We will have about 1,200 acres to develop industrial plots in separate blocks of different industries, and preserve the rest of the land in its original state.”

“So far, 20 to 21 kilometres of roadways have been constructed for better connectivity surrounding the whole project site,” he said.

The authorities also planted 12.5 lakh trees to offer natural tranquility inside the premises.

“In addition, we developed 17 lakes on about 130 acres of land to get water at the project site, as ground-water level is far below,” Shahjahan said.

“We have an estimated budget of $200 million to develop infrastructure, excluding utility services. About 600 people are working here without any output until now,” he said.

“We could have made further progress if required utility, including gas and power, were ensured,” he said.

Moreover, a lack of clarity in several private EPZ rules and import permits for equipment of the industrial units also contributed to the slow progress in implementing the KEPZ, he said.