Industry sources stated that Bangladesh has great potential for doubling its shipments of man-made fibre (MMF) or non-cotton garments in a few years by removing bottlenecks and granting the necessary legislative backing.
Research and Policy Integration for Development (RAPID) recently conducted a study titled Upscaling the RMG Sector, which identified some policy issues and obstacles, such as limited access to duty-free raw materials.
Cotton is duty-free, but many MMFs are subject to import duties, which presents issues for the textile sector.
Growth needs to be improved by ineffective customs clearance, convoluted duty-drawback procedures, discriminatory policies regarding the import and export of PET bottles and scrap, limited capital investment support for underdeveloped industries, insufficient short-term financing support, and incredibly low investment.
The findings predict that if Bangladesh achieves the projected market shares of 20 potential products, MMF export earnings can rise by US $ 12.5 billion to US $ 19 billion within a decade.
Bangladesh primarily exports cotton-based apparel, constituting 71 per cent of total exports, with cotton apparel exports growing significantly from US $ 3.0 billion in 2001 to US $ 33 billion in 2021, reads the report.
The import data for MMF, or non-cotton raw materials, also showed an upward trend, indicating that these products are being used more frequently to make export-oriented clothing.
Bangladesh bought 30,900 tonnes of polyester staple fibre in the first quarter of 2024, up 42.46 percent from 21,644 tonnes imported from January to March of 2023, according to the Bangladesh Textile Mills Association.
In a similar vein, imports of synthetic filament yarn increased 17.42 per cent to 91,766 tonnes over the period from 78,150 tonnes in 2023.
Data shows that over time, the import of synthetic staple fibre yarn increased by 3.45 per cent to 34,728 tonnes.
Despite its strong presence in the cotton market, Bangladesh has substantial room for growth in MMF and blended apparel, where it holds a 5.6-per cent global market share compared to China’s dominant 36 per cent.
According to the RAPID research, Vietnam also does exceptionally well in the MMF and blended apparel markets in the USA and Japan. Over the previous two decades, the worldwide garment export market has doubled to US $ 505 billion, indicating substantial developments in the business.
Exports of blended and man-made clothing topped US $ 219 billion in 2021, with man-made garments reaching US $ 271 billion.
Sixty-two per cent of the 109 million tonnes of fibre produced worldwide in 2020 was synthetic.
By 2030, the market for synthetic fibre is expected to grow from US $ 70 billion to US $ 115 billion, indicating a change in clothing towards materials composed of man-made fibres.
Over 57 per cent of the garment trade is now made up of non-cotton fibre items, and major exporters like China, India, and Vietnam have greatly increased their MMF and hybrid apparel baskets.