Bangladesh Single County Trade Exhibition to be held from at Toronto
April 28, 2008
Bangladesh Expo 2008, Toronto fair will be held from April 30 – May 02, 2008 at Metro Toronto Convention Center. The exposition is aimed in promoting Bangladeshi exportable products primarily – Ready made garments, Leather products and much more.
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Textile sector’s development.
April 28, 2008
The textile sector of the country has been a major source of its economic strengths. It has come nearer to becoming a fully self sustained and sustainable industry from successfully overcoming different hurdles that confronted it over three and a half decades of its growth. From a state of only stitching common apparels out of completely imported foreign fabrics, the export-oriented textile industry of the country has branched out into many products. Its value additions have also substantially increased from the growth of linkage industries. A great deal of the yarn for making fabrics are now produced in the country. The fabrics spun with such yarn, locally, are of international standard and are meeting now a substantial part of the demands of the local industries making apparels for exporting to the overseas markets.
The phasing out of the multi fibre arrangement (MFA) was earlier predicted to be a cause of the gradual downturn of the textile sector in Bangladesh. But the gloomy forecast was disproved and the Bangladeshi textile industry is marching ahead from strength to strength and the same is shown in its robust increase from export earnings recently. All of these positive developments were noted by the Chief Adviser (CA) in his address to the inauguration of Texbangla-2008 which is an exposition of the attainments in the textile sector.
But it was also underlined by the CA that the positive trends in the export of textile products would have to be consolidated and further improved upon, with relentless and ceaseless efforts that characterised entrepreneurial rearguard actions in recent years not to allow prospects of this burgeoning sector to be diminished. The entrepreneurs have been proactive and taken initiatives to retain the competitiveness of their industries. The same included replacing the outdated machinery with more up-to-date ones, restructuring of production systems, training and retraining of workers and many other costs saving as well as efficiency – and productivity-boosting measures. The enterprises and businesses in the overall textile sector are now benefiting a great deal from the timely taking of these measures by the entrepreneurs in this field. But these tasks have not been comprehensively completed throughout the sector and should be carried out within a short time-frame.
The owners of the textile industries also should put the greatest stress on improving relations with workers. Implementing the enhanced minimum wages, monetary benefits, timely payment of salaries and wages, plus improvement of working conditions, all of these things and more need to be concluded within a strict time-bound framework. The doing of the same will be of great help in quelling growing signs of labour troubles showing up in these industries. The troubles pose both long- and short-term serious threats to the sector. Besides, the overseas buyers of apparel are increasingly linking their buying from Bangladesh with the enterprises here complying with their expected standards of treatment of the workers. Thus, the owners and operators in the textile sector will have to give very focused attention to this area both for the smooth functioning of their units and to keep the buyers dedicated to buying from Bangladesh.
On its part, the government should extend all possible incentives to the industry through fiscal and monetary policies. Gas and power supply to it amply and without interruptions should be aimed. Furthermore, port charges and other handling costs through public sector infrastructures of goods of the textile sector should be tried on a sustained basis to be kept at the minimum. The same will translate into greater competitiveness for the textile sector.
Investments in EPZs may touch $5.0b soon.
April 28, 2008
Bangladesh will emerge as an attractive destination for foreign investment, provided the country can give land and take quick decision on project proposals, outgoing BEPZA chief said Wednesday.
“Foreign investors will flock to invest … What matters to them is availability of land and quick decisions,” executive chairman of Bangladesh Export Processing Zones Authority (BEPZA) Ashraf Abdullah Yusuf told the Financial Express.
“Investments in export processing zones (EPZs) alone may touch US$5.0 billion in the near future. But for that, the country must move toward public-private models in developing economic zones,” he added.
Over the years, the country’s eight EPZs have emerged as magnets for foreign investments on the back of fiscal and non-fiscal benefits, better infrastructure and relatively secure environment.
Duty-free imports, tax rebate, reliable power and gas supply are among the factors that have led to a boom in foreign investments from mainly Japan, South Korea, China and the United States in the export-oriented industrial parks since mid-eighties.
BEPZA, the industrial park regulator, signed deals worth US$1.1 billion in March of fiscal 2008, Yusuf said, adding the actual investment also totalled $240 million during the period. The capital infusion by foreign companies in economic zones recorded an exponential 109 per cent growth.
But he said that foreign investors would turn away from Bangladesh unless the country can allocate land to the investors and take prompt decision on their investment proposals.
In addition to the availability of land and utilities, investment proposals get delayed, due in part to the bureaucratic tangle, he added.
The Board of Investment, the investment promotion agency, also suffers from the same symptom in taking decision on multi-billion dollar proposals, notably by Indian Tata Group and UK-based Asia Energy.
Yusuf, who will take the helm of the special security force, said foreign investments might increase by manifold in near future if the economic zone regime is modernised.
“We need to come out of the traditional concept. I think, public-private partnership will be the best possible option to build new economic zones in the country,” he said.
He noted that BEPZA has decided to build two new EPZs one each in Feni and Munshiganj in collaboration with the private sector.
Already, he said, Citibank NA, the International Finance Corporation and other private financiers are interested to join hands in the venture.
Yusuf said textiles, electronics, footwear and other high-tech industries will be given priority in the new EPZs.
He also favoured the establishment of private industrial park and special economic zones (SEZ) in the country, saying these could add new dimensions to the zone development concept.
But BEPZA chief said the idea of building SEZs is unlikely to pay dividend unless those are regulated by a public-private entity.
He said foreign investments in industrial parks boosted technology transfer, while enabling local staff to hone their management skills.
To elaborate, Yusuf said of an estimated 21,000 technicians serving in different enterprises in the eight EPZs, only 1100 are foreign.
Besides, he said that more than 500 employees of EPZs were able to get overseas training in the last five years.
Official statistics say the country’s eight EPZs brought in nearly $1.1 billion in investment between 1983 and 2005, accounting for nearly 20 per cent of annual exports, and 25 per cent of the country’s total foreign direct investment.
But the World Bank, in a recent report, called the performance “modest,” saying that the scale of impact would have been much larger if the zone regime were modernised.
Duty-free access to US market to further expand RMG sector.
April 28, 2008
The ready made garment (RMG) sector of the country will further expand to generate 1,80,000 new employment opportunities, provided the US grants Bangladeshi RMG products a duty free access through the passage of the New Partnership Development Act (NPDA).
Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) and trade union leaders and experts told a seminar on ‘Livelihood Implication of RMG Industry’in Dhaka yesterday.
“The country’s RMG sector is contributing to poverty alleviation with around 2.2 million people working in the sector and another 10-12 million involved in related industries,” Dr Mostafa Abid Khan, joint chief of Bangladesh Tariff Commission, said, as he presented a paper at the seminar.
“Another 1,80,000 employments could be generated, provided the US grants Bangladeshi RMG products a duty free access in the US market,” he added.
Dr Kamal Hossain, eminent lawyer of the country, said, “The RMG sector is the future for all of us. The sector will see a boom if we all work together with a problem solving approach.”
“The government should not create any obstacle for the sector, instead it should help the sector with its policies, said he said, adding that the workers and owners within the sector should have friendly relationship.
Edward Gresser, a trade policy analyst, said, “The RMG sector in Bangladesh would do a lot better if the US granted the sector duty free access to its market.”
“Bangladesh should try to convince African nations that their RMG sector would not be harmed as a result of Bangladesh getting duty free access,” said Gresser, a former staff of the Clinton administration.
First Vice President of BGMEA MA Salam said, “We all should work together for the development of the RMG sector as the sector remains as the main source of the country’s foreign exchange earnings.”
Taufiq, a trade union leader, said, “Working condition in RMG sector is improving, although there is some problems in the sector regarding wages and other facilities for the workers which could be improved through dialogues and meetings, adding that the developed countries should help the least developed countries (LDCs) like Bangladesh to generate employment opportunities in the sector by increasing imports of RMG products.”
Bangladesh Garments: Hope Despite Opposition
April 17, 2008
Duty-free access is key for Cambodia because the US buys 70 percent of Cambodia’s garments and currently charges a 17 percent average tariff on them.
Cambodia fears that at the end of this year, when US emergency quotas on Chinese garments expire, factories will give up on Cambodia’s 330,000 garment workers and relocate either to China or Vietnam, which now enjoys the quota-free access of a full World Trade Organization member.
Hoping a tariff cut will keep factories where they are, Cambodian Commerce Minister Cham Prasidh traveled several times to Washington in 2007 to press the case.
Representative Jim McDermott introduced a bill in Congress that would cut the tariffs.
“We’re talking about people, about countries where people live on about $2 a day,” McDermott told VOA Khmer recently. “And my view that’s the bottom line. It doesn’t make any difference what color you are or what language you speak, if you’re living on $2 a day, you need some help.”
McDermott, a Democrat who served in the Peace Corps in Africa, introduced the New Partnership for Development bill in October, and this bill would expand duty-free garment access to all least developed countries.
Currently major garment producers Bangladesh and Cambodia are the only developing countries that do not benefit from other special trade preference programs that grant duty-free access.
The bill has the strong support of the US retailers and importers who want to increase their profits by paying less for the garments.
But because of strong opposition from the US textile industry, as well as African and Central American countries, and increasing anti-trade rhetoric by Democrats in Congress running for president, trade watchers in Washington believe the bill has little chance of succeeding this year.
In February the US textile industry and garment makers in Africa and Central America wrote to Congress urging it to deny duty-free access to Bangladesh and Cambodia. These nations describe Cambodia as an industrial powerhouse that will cost them jobs
Under existing preference programs, many poor countries must use US fabric to get duty-free access when shipping garments back to the US.
Restrictions on African garments also limit their use of non-African fabric. These restrictions are important sources of textile jobs in the states of North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia and Alabama.
“If this act went through, we could lose tens of thousands of US textile jobs because we would lose billions of dollars in yarn and fabric orders currently being exported overseas and turned into clothing and brought back into the United States,” textile lobbyist Cass Johnson, the president of the National Council of Textile Organization, told VOA Khmer. “Those apparel orders would be lost because Bangladesh and Cambodia, two countries that use no US yarns or fabrics, would be replacing those orders with new apparel orders that are made of Chinese yarns or fabrics.”
“That’s because the bill gives them extraordinary new benefits which make it impossible for us or our overseas export partners to compete,” Johnson said. “We send nearly $10 million worth of yarns and fabrics to Mexico, the Andean countries and to the CAFTA region under various trade promotion programs.”
US textile makers see Cambodia’s growing garment exports, up 20 percent from 2006 to 2007 despite a 49 percent decrease in the last quarter of 2007, as a major threat
“ Bangladesh and Cambodia, even without this new bill, have taken about $2 billion of apparel trade from the region,” Johnson said. “They are super-competitive countries. They have grown 60 percent over the last three years. This bill would supercharge that growth. You would see billions and billions of dollars lost from the region. You’ve got to think: that is potentially hundreds of thousands of jobs.”
The letter to Congress was signed by business groups in South Africa, Lesotho, Kenya, and Madagascar in Africa; and Peru, Nicaragua, Mexico, Colombia, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador in the Americas.
Jas Bedi, the Chairman of the Kenya Apparel Manufacturers Exporters Association, said the bill undermines the African Growth and Opportunity Act, signed into law in 2000, which gives duty-free access to lesser developed African countries.
“Kenyan industry is similar to the rest of Africa [and] is struggling to survive with no gain in market share with the expiry of the Multifiber Agreement since 2005,” he said. “This new bill will not help the situation.”
Lobbyists, including some retail supporters of McDermott’s bill, said that 2009 would be the first opportunity to discuss new benefits for Cambodia. This year several US preference programs expire and when an attempt to extend them and add new benefits for Africa failed in a House committee last month, these supporters were discouraged.
McDermott disagrees.
“My feeling is that there is, there is always time in a legislative session, when we’re talking March, to do something,” he said.
McDermott said that the fight to get his bill passed has become complicated. There is a battle in the US Congress over enacting a new free trade agreement with Colombia.
President George W. Bush has made that bill his top trade priority, but Democrats and union leaders in the US are against it.
The battle is forcing Democrats to choose sides, and they are choosing to oppose greater trade.
Statements by senators Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, the leading Democratic candidates for president, against the cornerstone of US trade policy, the NAFTA agreement with Mexico and Canada, have further motivated Democrats to oppose new trade benefits.
“But there’s quite a bit of time for us to do something,” McDermott said. “We’ve been talking about having hearings on this bill in April. And so, I already think there’s a real possibility that we’ll get a lot of that done.”
McDermott included benefits in the bill to appease worried African countries after they complained last year. One limits the amount of clothing Cambodia could claim duty-free access for to the amount of garment it currently produces.
This could avoid a massive increase or “surge” in new Cambodian garments that would dominate the market. Deapite the pressure, McDermott said that he will not take Cambodia and Bangladesh out of the bill
“Poor countries, LDCs [lesser-developed countries] ought to be dealt with,” he said. “And if you’re an African LDC, you’re not a whole lot different than an Asian LDC or a South American LDC…The fear of the Africans is that they’re going to lose everything, that it’s all going to be sucked up by the Asians. Well, we put in protections, we put in firewalls that you couldn’t get more than they’re producing already and for the next ten years.”
Lobbyist Johnson said these safeguards are not enough.
“When countries have had these caps before they very cleverly get around them by offering importers the ability to use part of the cap but only if they will bring in new business,” Johnson said. “There are various ways around the cap that countries and importers have used in the past. I’m sure Bangladesh and Cambodia would be no exception.”
Johnson also said that the supporters of the bill are not really concerned with helping Cambodia or making clothes cheaper for American consumers, so much as enriching themselves.
“Major importers and retailers are supporting this bill,” Johnson said. “One of the reasons, and this is one of the stories you don’t hear about this bill, is they get $900 million a year in duty savings. They pay $900 million in duties on apparel goods coming from those two countries and that would be a gift from the US treasury into their pockets, which doesn’t help the people in Bangladesh and Cambodia much but it does help US retailers get a little richer.”
Asked if his LDC bill is dead now that developing countries have joined forces with the US textile industry against it, McDermott noted that his bill has the support of powerful House Ways and Means Committee chairman, New York congressman Charles Rangel.
“When somebody tells me a bill is dead,” he said, laughing, “that makes it even more fun when we make it happen.”
Delmas to set up garments manufacturing industry in Chittagong EPZ
April 6, 2008
| Bangladeshi company in the name & style M/s. Delmas Apparels (Pvt.) Limited is going to set up a Garments Manufacturing Industry in the Chittagong Export Processing Zone.
This 100% local owned company will invest US$ 2.5 million and will produce 3,60,000 dozens Woven garments items. The company will create employment opportunity for 718 Bangladeshi including 17 foreign nationals. An agreement to this effect was signed between the Bangladesh Export Processing Zones Authority and the M/s. Delmas Apparels (Pvt.) Limited in BEPZA Complex, Dhaka (01-04-2008). General Manager (Investment Promotion) of BEPZA and Managing Director of M/s. Delmas Apparels (Pvt.) Limited have signed the lease agreement on behalf of their respective organization. The Executive Chairman of BEPZA and other officials were present on this occasion. |
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Canada-Bangla JV to set up a knit garment facility at Adamjee EPZ
April 6, 2008
| Joint venture between Canada-Bangladesh in the name & style M/s. Rashid Composite Textile Limited is going to set up a Knit Composite Garments Manufacturing Industry in the Adamjee Export Processing Zone.This jointly owned company will invest US$ 10.841 million and will manufacture annually 3 lakh 75 thousand dozens of Polo shirt, T-shirt, Knit Trouser & Children Wear from Knitted Dyed fabrics. The company will create employment opportunity for 511 Bangladeshi nationals.
An agreement to this effect was signed between the Bangladesh Export Processing Zones Authority and the M/s. Rashid Composite Textile Limited in Dhaka (02-09-2007). Mr. Prasanta Bhushan Barua, Member (Investment Promotion) of BEPZA and Mr. Ali Bakhtiar Mahmud, Managing Director of Rashid Composite Textile Limited have signed the lease agreement on behalf of their respective organizations. Among others Brig. General Ashraf Abdullah Yussuf, Executive Chairman, Member (Finance) Mr. A.K.M. Mahbubur Rahman, General Manager (Investment Promotion) Mr. A.Z.M. Azizur Rahman and Manager (Industrial Relations) Mr. Md. Abdus Sobhan of BEPZA were present at the signing ceremony. |
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Handicraft expo in Khulna runs a successful course
April 6, 2008
Global : Preview of textile & garment industry – 2007
April 3, 2008
The year 2007 proved to be an exceptional year for the textile & garment industries of some countries & tumultuous for others. On one hand countries like China & Vietnam had a very excellent year, on the other hand countries like USA and India had declining figures.
According to revised reports from China, enterprises in the textile industry are expected to complete a total industrial output value of 3.05 trillion Yuan, up 21.9 percent year on year.
The latest statistical reports show that China exported textile and apparel worth US $156.584 billion in the first 11 months in 2007, with 19.86 percent increase over the same period of last year.
Of the total exports, apparel and accessories generated over $105.43 billion, a rise of 22.2 percent; yarn, fabric and other textile products makes up $51.152 billion, augmenting 15.3 percent.
Provisional figures released by Vietnamese MOIT currently suggest that the textile and garment industry of Vietnam earned US$ 7.8 billion exports revenue in 2007, representing a year on year increase of 32% and become the largest foreign currency earning industry for Vietnam.
Data released by the U.S. Federal Reserve yesterday showed that U.S. Textile Mill output fell sharply by 12.1 percent in 2007. The drop in output was the largest since the U.S. government began publishing output data on the topic in 1972. From its peak in December 1997, U.S. Textile Mill output has plunged 44.85 percent.
A flood of subsidized imports, especially those from China, is crippling the U.S. textile industry. The decline in U.S. output directly is tied to the loss of market share, and the loss of market share then is directly tied to the loss of hundreds of thousands of U.S. textile and apparel manufacturing jobs.
While on the other hand the textile & garment industry in India had to face the contentious issue of the appreciation of the rupee. The rupee has appreciated by nearly 15 percent in the last one & half year which has severely affected the competitiveness of the textile & garment industry.
India recorded a decline of 12 percent in dollar terms & 20 percent decline in rupee terms in the first half of the current fiscal. The biggest decline to the tune of 29.13 percent was witnessed in export of MMF garments corresponding to the previous year. Export of cotton textiles also declined by 16.62 percent
Apparels & garments exports from Bangladesh totaled $9.21 billion, or 75 per cent, of Bangladesh??s annual export income in the fiscal year till June 2007. Garments, especially knitwear, have driven the country??s export performance since global export quotas were phased out. The Bangladesh garment industry in particular has been plagued by workers unrest in the last few weeks.
In Nigeria there have been losses of more than 10000 jobs in the textile industry. One of the reasons attributed to the same are smuggling of cheap textile and garments which also became a major concern for the industry. Competitive prices quoted by Chinese textile & garment companies have brought to standstill, textile industries of quite a few other countries too.
Bangladesh wants to export more garments to US
April 3, 2008
Bangladesh will lobby with the US Congress for the passage of an apparel-related bill with the hope of increasing its export of readymade garments.
Chief Advisor Fakhruddin Ahmed assured the government’s full support to the move.
The embassy in Washington is lobbying — along with the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) — for smooth passage of ‘The New Partnership for Development Act of 2007′, now before the US Congress.
‘During my recent visit to the US, I emphasised to the authorities concerned the necessity of giving duty- and quota-free entry of Bangladesh garments to the US market. Bangladesh Embassy in that country in association with BGMEA representatives continues lobbying hard for passage of the bill,’ Ahmed said Thursday.
The US is the single-largest market of readymade garments for Bangladesh. If the bill is passed, apparel export to the US would increase in a big way, Ahmed said at the opening of BATEXPO 2007, an international textile fair.
The garment sector contributes about 76 percent of the country’s export earning — about $9.2 billion. Around 2.4 million people, 85 percent of them women, work in the sector.