Refayet Ullah Mirdha

Local denim has maintained its top position in the US markets despite the ongoing global crisis as the demand for garments made from the widely used fabric is soaring among American consumers.

Eugene Willemsen, chief executive officer of PepsiCo for Asia, Middle East and South Africa, was in Dhaka last week on an official visit. During his stay, he talked to The Daily Star’s Senior Reporter Refayet Ullah Mirdha.

Consumers suffered a fresh blow yesterday as commodity processors raised the prices of  edible oil and sugar by up to Tk 13 per kg.

Over the last decade Bangladesh has been enjoying the benefits of a shift in work orders from China and some other countries in many product categories. 

Bangladesh started its journey as a garment exporting nation in 1978 with the shipment of a few thousand formal shirts to a French buyer, MNR. 

Rising temperatures, shifting of orders from China, and changes in fashion have all made Bangladesh a major manufacturer of sweaters in recent years.

The beginning of the export of T-shirts from Bangladesh was considered to be a landmark in the history of the garment manufacturing as it helped the country widen the product base. 

The simple step that Bangladesh took in the apparel trade four and a half decades ago has proven to be a giant leap as the country has emerged as the second-largest garment exporter globally after China. 

The unsold yarn at the spinning mills of Bangladesh is piling up abnormally because of a fall in work orders by 30 per cent for apparel items from international clothing retailers and brands. 

Although cotton prices have declined sharply in the international futures markets, spinners and garment exporters in Bangladesh are not feeling elated owing to the dearer US dollar, the energy crisis and the fall in demand for finished goods.    

America will continue to be a major export destination for apparel items made in Bangladesh as Washington is working with Dhaka to improve the condition at the factories in the country, said a senior official of the US. 

Plummy Fashions, a Narayanganj-based export-oriented knitwear factory, used to spend Tk 65,000 per month on diesel even two months ago. But the same factory now has to consume one month’s worth of fuel in a single day owing to rolling blackouts. 

Businesses yesterday reiterated their demand for uninterrupted gas and power supplies to industrial units as they are having to operate at half capacity because of the ongoing energy crisis.

Post-pandemic, the speed in planning and execution will be the determining factor for businesses to survive amid changing behaviour of consumers and the volatility in the global supply chain. 

Many thought exports from Bangladesh to Russia would come to a halt after the Russia-Ukraine war began in February as the transcontinental nation was slapped with numerous sanctions and embargoes that restrained its import activities.

Bangladesh is working on getting either a free trade agreement (FTA) or economic partnership agreement (EPA) signed with Japan, the most promising export market in Asia, with the commerce ministry having already prepared a relevant memorandum of cooperation (MoC). 

Rapid urbanisation, industrialisation and electrification in rural areas of Bangladesh has led to a boom in the country’s electrical cable industry over the past few years.

International buyers are consistently paying lower than the global average price to apparel suppliers in Bangladesh but higher to some of the country’s competitors, according to the International Trade Centre (ITC).

The knitwear segment has retained its position as the country’s biggest export earner in the readymade garment industry and among all the sectors of Bangladesh. 

The Bangladesh Trade and Tariff Commission (BTTC) is conducting further studies on possible outcomes of the country joining the world’s largest China-led trade deal, Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), Senior Commerce Secretary Tapan Kanti Ghosh said yesterday.