Bangladesh's apparel export boasts a 'turnaround' in 2021 with a considerable rise in earning, recording a 28-per cent year-on-year growth in eleven months.
Data suggest that the whole-year readymade garment (RMG) earnings would leapfrog the pre-pandemic 2019 level in a robust rebound after bearing the brunt of disruptions by the Covid-19 pandemic that had upended global order.
Apparel exports fetched the country US$31.76 billion during January-to-November period of 2021 calendar year, recording a 28-per cent growth over $24.81 billion earned during the corresponding period of 2020, according to the industry account.
The Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) data show the earning at US$33.07 billion in 2019 and down at $27.47 billion in 2020-the year of corona onslaughts.
Industry-insiders bill 2021 as a 'turnaround' year for the sector after a severe blow dealt by the pandemic since the beginning of 2020.
Lockdowns in major importing countries to contain the spread of corona virus had eaten up the demands for the 'made-in-Bangladesh' apparel while such restrictions here resulted in about a month-long factory shutdown last year.
Even in 2021, industrial units remained closed for at least two weeks in July following a strict lockdown to ward off a wave of viral infections.
But with an improved Covid-19 situation due to mass vaccination consumer demand in western markets began to register a rebound and work orders started flooding in Bangladesh, they added.
After a drastic fall since April 2020, export earnings got on an upturn in July 2020, mostly with the resurrection of the cancelled orders. Later, the trend continues in 2021, with the highest US$3.56 billion single-month export earnings recorded in October, according to the data.
Since September this year, the sector continued earning more than three billion each month while exporters expected the trend
to sustain in December, too, to mark an upbeat yearend.
For some external reasons, including trade war between the US and China, western buyers search for China alternative. Besides, recent disruptions to supply chain, factory closure in Vietnam and Cambodia due to deteriorating Covid situation and Myanmar crisis have created a new opportunity for Bangladesh, industry people say.
When asked, BGMEA President Faruque Hassan described how the recovery could be achieved. Despite challenges and risks, they reopened factory after the first lockdown last year by strictly following health and safety guidelines.
"Entrepreneurs have invested a lot in maintaining health safety while they restarted factory operation with lesser workforce initially," he says.
And this bold gambit helped the sector regain the confidence of the global buyers.
"Now we have much work order. And 2021 is a year of bounceback," he told the FE on Thursday.
For last six months, prices of local apparel also have increased, he says, explaining that prices have risen mainly because of high prices of raw materials like cotton, yarn and other logistic charges like freight costs.
"But there has hardly been any hike in CM (cost and making)," he noted.
Mr Hassan hopes December earnings from RMG exports will also surpass $3.0-billion mark.
The BGMEA president holds the hope that the good performance will continue into 2022 with innovation, product diversification and value addition.
He, however, stressed simplification in import-export activities, infrastructure development, especially in airports, road connectivity and all land ports, to facilitate increased export activities so that they can deliver in time on the huge work orders they have in hand and in the pipeline.
Talking to the FE, Bangladesh Textile Mills Association (BTMA) additional director Monsoor Ahmed also terms 2021 'good' for textile millers.
"Followed by high demand, spinners and weavers were also engaged much in yarn and fabrics production," he says.
According to textile millers, the global cotton index remained below 100 points in August and jumped over the mark at the end of last September and hit 107 points on October 01, the highest in a decade.
Apparel makers and textile millers locked horns over the high price of yarn on the local market that later resulted in fixing the highest ceiling of locally made yarn until November 30. They also agreed on a review of the rate if the price fell or went up, industry people said.
Local textile millers meet over 80 per cent of the demand of knitwear exporters while the percentage is only 35-40 for the woven sub-sector.
According to BTMA, Bangladesh imported about 1.81 million tonnes of cotton during the January-November period of 2021. The import was 1.55 million tonnes in 2020.
Though Bangladesh's RMG in 2021 shows an impressive recovery despite the Covid-19 shadows, a recent Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD) study found this growth mainly featured by volume.
The rate of apparel-price increase has been really low with regularity coming into being in the global supply chain after the pandemic-led nosedive, according to the study that focused on two main export destinations of Bangladesh - the USA that accounts for 24 per cent and the EU 64 per cent of total RMG export.
munni_fe@yahoo.com