In what can be termed an encouraging development for the readymade garment industry of Bangladesh, despite being low compared to the same period of last year, apparel shipments in the first 18 days of this month stood at US $ 1.57 billion, which as per industry insiders is due to revival of new orders by the buyers.
As per provisional data compiled by the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) from the National Board of Revenue’s statistics, apparel export in the first 18 days of July last year was US $ 1.78 billion, which in the same period this year, tumbled by 11.74 per cent to US $ 1.57 billion.
However, after the dismal show in the export front in the last few months owing to COVID-19, this is a positive development nonetheless, feel many garment makers.
According to the first Vice-President of the Bangladesh Knitwear Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BKMEA), Mohammad Hatem, global buyers reinstated around 70-80 per cent of the work orders which were earlier cancelled or put on hold as the severity of COVID-19 has somewhat lessened in many export destinations including Europe.
Nonetheless, new work orders are 60 per cent of that of the last year’s still, underlined the first Vice-President of BKMEA.
