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Japan widens scope for apparel makers: CPD

Star Business Report
Opportunities have widened for local apparel makers, as the third largest garment importer. Japan, is going to look beyond China and diversify outsourcing to other nations, the Centre for Policy Dialogue said in a study yesterday.
Much of the potential remained untapped because of various factors, such as strict Rules of Origin (RoO) criteria in Japan and lack of marketing campaigns.
Japan’s insistence on product quality, emphasis on compliance and language barriers were disincentives to local garment makers in finding a niche in the more than $24 billion Japanese apparel market where Bangladesh exported apparels worth only $74 million in fiscal 2008-09, discussants said.
They however said initiatives, including relaxation of RoO criteria by the Japan government, strengthening of economic diplomacy and marketing campaigns by entrepreneurs, can help Bangladesh fetch as high as $2 billion from apparel exports to Japan in the next few years.
“A newavenue for garment exports to Japan has opened up. We hope to bag $2 billion in earnings by exporting apparels to Japan. The RoO will not be a big problem between us," said Commerce Minister Faruk Khan, emerging from the dialogue.
CPD organised the discussion - In Search of New Markets: New products Bangladesh Apparel Export to Japan -- at the CIRDAP auditorium, where Former Commerce Minister Amir Khosru Mahmud Chowdhury urged Japan to relax the RoO criteria for Bangladesh under the Aid forTYade perspective ofWTO.
Japan Ambassador Tamotsu Shinotsuka said his embassy communicated the RoO problem with Tokyo to seek a solution.
Member of CPD Board ofTrustees M Syeduzzaman chaired the discussion.
The private research body arranged the discussion, as export destinations, especially for local apparel makers, are limited, mainly to the European Union and United States.
However, unlike other developed economies, Bangladesh's export to Japan remains low with total export earnings from the nation standing at $202 million in fiscal 2009, even though Bangladesh, being a least developed country (LDC), enjoys duty free and quota free facility for 98.6 percent of its products under the WTO.
But Japan's initiatives to support LDCs in terms of duty free market access is likely to be less effective, said CPD Senior Research Fellow Khondaker Golam Moazzem in his study, citing Japan's economic partnership agreements with other countries, including apparel makers Vietnam andThailand.
He said Japanese buyers outsourced majority of its apparel from (liina but rising wage rates and currency appreciation in Asia's second biggest economy now erodes competitiveness, leading Japanese buyers to take initiatives known as China Plus one.
Fazlul Hoque. president of Bangladesh Knitwear Manufacturers and Exporters Association, said relaxation of the RoO would help them enhance apparel exports.