Bangladesh embassy in Tokyo has expressed feared that Bangladesh’s garment export to Japan is likely to decline in the coming days as net income of the Japanese people has fallen.
Trade councilor Hasan Arif at Bangladesh embassy in Tokyo expressed the fear recently in a letter to commerce ministry in Dhaka.
Japan government has decided to impose a 10% consumer tax on its people, which also has cast an impact on consumer spending, he added.
The ministry officials cited volatility of US dollar against Japanese yen as another reason behind such fear of export fall.
But the Bangladeshi exporters have obtained duty-free facility into the Japanese market, which could raise hope however, according to officials.
As per the trade councilor letter, Bangladeshi exports to Japan during July-October period this fiscal is less 0.81% or $2.40m than the strategic target which was $296.45m.
The net income of Japanese people fell by 16% in April in 2014 while Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s decision on whether to proceed with the next proposed sales tax hike in October 2015, to 10% from 8%, the letter reads.
It said the Japanese consumer spending is 60% of Gross Domestic Product of the country.
The embassy advised the Bangladeshi exporters to attend different trade fairs and conferences in Japan to boost exports to the Asian economic giant.
Letter further revealed the time frame of garment fair and economic conferences in Tokyo and around Japan in next two months.
Meanwhile, Export Promotion Bureau’s recent data showed at end of FY2013-14, Bangladesh’s exports to Japan amounted to $540m. In 2012-13 year it was $519m.
Senior Commerce Secretary Hedayetullah Al Mamoon told Dhaka Tribune that it was not easy to reach a big export target to Japanese market as the consumers in the market use mainly high-end products.
He said manufacturing high-end products for the Japanese market will involve a lot of investments.
The secretary said it would be a difficult work for Bangladeshi exporters to grab $13bn Chinese export share in the Japanese market.