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Export high value garments, concentrate on brand wear

Speakers advocate at BIDS-Oxfam seminar

STAR BUSINESS REPORT
Speakers at a seminar yesterday underscored the need for concentrating more on innovative efforts to enter markets for exporting high value garment products and start implementing international standards to face the challenges of post multi-fibre arrangement (MFA) era.
Bangladeshi exporters are very much dependent on buying houses and only few companies are producing brand items, they said mentioning that other countries are not using middlemen to the extent of what the local exporters are doing.
The seminar on 'A Value Chain Analysis of the RMG Sector in Bangladesh: Beyond MFA' jointly organised by the Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies and Oxfam-GB Bangladesh Programme was held at the IDB Bhaban in the city. Eminent economist Dr Wahiduddin Mahmud moderated the second session.
Speaking at the seminar, Dr Mahmud underscored the need for making some changes in the foreign exchange rules so that the country's exporters can put their innovative efforts in marketing their products abroad.
Barrister Anisul Islam Mahmud, a member of Bangladesh Textile Mills Association (BTMA), mentioned that the government policy of barring the foreign direct investment (FDI) in RMG sector did not help the country.
"Unless FDI comes here, exporting high value products would be very difficult because they have the know-how of producing and marketing up-market products. If we want to export high value products, we have to rethink our investment policy," he added citing the example of Sri Lanka which has allowed FDI in RMG in this regard and succeeded.
Mahmud, who is the third largest
fabric exporter of the country, also mentioned that the country's RMG exports boomed because of allowing back to back letter of credit. "Now we need some innovation in marketing our products abroad."
A Matin Chowdhury, former president of BTMA, said RMG sector would neither survive with only locally produced fabric nor with imported fabric.
Instead of depending on local production or import, the policy might be 50-50 and local industry has to be supported to sustain, he said urging the government to provide duty exemption, competitive port and utility charges so that the backward linkage industry can survive.
Dr Ashraf U Chowdhury of Dhaka University said the issues like human rights, socio-economic conditions and democratic process play a very important role in the globalised world. He also stressed the need for improving the country's image abroad.
Ealier in the first session speakers called for the need for up-
gradation of products, process and function of the Bangladesh's garments sector to face the major challenges after the MFA.
They identified four major challenges immediately facing the sector --phasing out of the MultiFibre Agreement (MFA) by January 2005, competition from China, pressure to meet global standard, changing retail markets and the new competitive pressure from global buyers.
They also observed that China and Vietnam would be the main competitors to Bangladesh's low price garment items in a duty and quota free regime.
Salma Zohir in her paper observed that most of the small factories are likely to be closed down after the phasing out of MFA while chances are there for survival of the medium and larger factories.
Khalid Nadvi observed that Bangladesh was still the cheapest supplier of garments products and there was hardly any significant effort of up-gradation of items.