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RMG exports slump in Sept

Refayet Ullah Mirdha
The average export of readymade garment (RMG) items, mainly knitwear and woven, declined by 26.75 percent in September compared with the same month last fiscal year, said the preliminary data of Export Promotion Bureau (EPB).
In August the average declining rate was only 1.31 percent.
The knitwear export went down by 27.59 percent in September, while the woven garment export marked a fall of25.69 percent, accordingto the EPB.
Bangladesh exported knitwear products worth $449.63 million in September compared with S620.94 million a year ago.
The country exported woven items worth $365.63 million in the same month compared with $492.08 million last year.
Abdus Salam Murshedy, president of Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA), said this is the highest decline in a single month over the last fewyears.
The average declining rate was 1.31 percent in August compared with the same month last fiscal year. Bangladesh exported knitwear items worth $552.46 million in August compared with S569.64 million a year earlier and woven products worth $489.22 million compared with $485.90 million last year.
Murshedy said manufacturers, exporters and their leaders have been informing the government since April this year that the country is losing competitiveness in apparel trade due to the global recession.
But the government is yet to take any action, he added.
The BGMEA boss said now the sector requires a 30 percent growth per month in RMG export to achieve the target, which is almost impossible.
Murshedy also said apparel export from Bangladesh is declining at a time when exports from India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Vietnam are increasing, which indicates that the stimulus packages given by those countries to the sector worked well.
He said cash incentives may not work well now as the time has passed away for a recovery. "Now we need a 100 percent policy support from the government. We need loan rescheduling facility and adequate supply of gas to our plants," Murshedy said.
He said Bangladesh now has a lot of orders from the international buyers, but the prices are too low to make profits.
Fazlul Hoque, president of Bangladesh Knitwear Manufacturers and Exporters Association, said the policymakers are responsible for such a drop in export in the country's main foreign currency earning sector.
Meanwhile, Bangladesh exported RMG products worth 53.03 billion in the first three months (July-September) of the current fiscal year compared with $3.35 billion in the same period last year.
The target for knitwear export was fixed at $7.29 billion in fiscal 2009-10 against the achievement at $6,429 billion in 2008-09. In case of woven, the export target was fixed at $6.68 billion for the current fiscal year against $5.91 billion earned in 2008-09, the EPB said.
reefat@thedailystar.net