At a time when garment makers in Bangladesh are anticipating probable supply chain disruption due to the outbreak of deadly Coronavirus in China thereby adversely impacting the readymade garment sector of the country, Chinese Ambassador to Dhaka Li Jiming dispelled any such fear to assure that Bangladeshi industries, especially the textile and readymade garment, would not be affected due to the outbreak of novel Coronavirus in his country
[Also read: Tipu Munshi underlines Govt’s concern on probable impact of Coronavirus on local businesses].
“I have learnt that Chinese people have now come back to businesses in most cities, except Wuhan, and so, there is hardly any possibility of major impact on bilateral trade between the two countries due to the outbreak,” maintained Li at a meet-the-press programme held in Dhaka recently underlining that Wuhan, which is still going through a tough situation as the epicentre of the virus, will not affect the fundamental picture of supply chain of Bangladeshi industries like RMG as the city having population of only 10 million is not a production centre for textile or apparel products.
The Ambassador further added that China was handling the situation with efficiency and the rate of new suspect has started coming down.
It may be mentioned here that as per Bangladesh China Chamber of Commerce & Industry (BCCCI), Bangladesh imported goods worth US $ 13.64 billion from China, more than 26 per cent of Bangladesh’s global import, in the last fiscal year 2018-2019 and exported goods worth only US $ 831 million to it.
Further, according to the National Board of Revenue (NBR) data, Bangladesh’s import from China fell by 22 per cent year-on-year in January this year.
