Export to US market surges

Target set to cross $ 5.5b

Kazi Zahidul Hasan

 

The country’s export to the USA market is likely to attain a high growth by the end of the current fiscal year as shipments of local merchandise to the world’s largest economy is booming  tremendously in the recent times, official sources said.

The USA was maintaining the top position as the largest importer of Bangladeshi goods over the last few years, where export earnings recorded 37.59 per cent growth in the first seven months of the current fiscal compared to that of the corresponding period of previous fiscal, said a high official of the commerce ministry.

“With a growing demand for Bangladeshi goods, especially for the readymade garments (RMG), export earnings from the US market is expected to cross US$ 5.5 billion mark by the end of fiscal year,” Commerce Minister M Faruk Khan told The New Nation on Wednesday.

He said the present shipment trend to the US market was encouraging for us as most of the export segments were doing well by surpassing the export target set for  the market.

The minister said, “The US consumer spending has started boosting followed by the economic recovery of the country creating more demands for local goods.”

Besides, strong presence of local garments in the US market, the largest apparel importer of the world, helped enlarge the export earnings of Bangladesh, he added.

However, he said, the ongoing export trend suggested that the country would be able to achieve the export target set for the US market.

Earlier, the EPB had set  US$4.51 billion export target  in the US market in the fiscal year 2010-11.

He also said the Ministry of Commerce was eager to expand the country’s export share further in the US market and for this it had been maintaining a close lobby with the US government to get duty-free access of local goods  there.

Bangladesh fetched US$ 2.85 billion from the US market during July-January period of the fiscal year 2010-11, while export turnover stood at US$2.07 billion during the corresponding period of previous fiscal, according to the ministry.

During the period the USA imported woven garments worth US$1.91 billion, knit garments $666.57 million, frozen foods $62.79 million, home textile US$85.10 million and cap US$23.39 million, according to the Export Promotion Bureau (EPB).

Of the total shipment to the US market, apparel (woven and knit) items accounted for the lion share of the export totaled at US$2.5 billion and woven garments alone contributed 48.60 per cent of the total market share while garments export to the US market stood at US$1.9 billion in the same period of the previous fiscal.

The export figure show that garments import by the USA rose by 34.43 per cent or US$ 662.34 million in the seven months of the FY 2010-11.

“Export to the USA rose    significantly during the ongoing fiscal as sales of cheap basic apparel items, mainly woven garments, was getting momentum in the market,” said BGMEA president Abdus Salam Murshedy.

The US imports more than $70 billion garment items annually from all over the world. The world’s export market of ready-made garment items is $410 billion where Bangladesh’s market share is only 3.0 per cent.

Murshedy said retailers in the US, who were hard hit by the economic crisis, were purchasing high quality garments from Bangladesh in enhanced volume due to the competitive price.

The BGMEA leader, however, upbeat about this year’s garments business, said, “2011 will be regarded as an excellent year for the industry as apparel export to the US market will cross   4.5 billion mark taking the advantage of the US  economic recovery.”

Murshedy said based on orders and positive growth, the sector would likely to achieve the export target, and export earnings from the largest export sector would cross over US$ 17 billion by the end of this fiscal.

Bangladesh had earned US$ 3.62 billion from the export of readymade garments in the fiscal year 2009-10.

Besides, Bangladesh becomes the fourth largest garments exporter to the US market as per the export value based on export performances during January-December period of the calendar year 2010, which previously occupied by Mexico, according to the US Customs Department.

Bangladesh fetched $ 3.95 billion in the fiscal year 20009-10 from the merchandise export to the US market while it shipped goods worth $ 4.05 billion to the US market in the fiscal year 2008-09.

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Source: The New Nation - Independent Daily