Bangladesh’s knitwear exports maintained robust growth in the 2021-22 fiscal year. The sector bagged nearly 55% of the export earnings of the apparel sector.
According to the latest Export Promotion Bureau (EPB) data, knitwear registered a growth of 36.88% to $23.2 billion in FY22. The earnings from this sector were $16.96 billion in the fiscal year 2020-21, said the EPB data.
Moreover, the sector also earned 18.96% more than the export target ($19.51 billion) set for the fiscal year.
However, the apparel sector, the highest earner of the export receipts, earned $42.6 billion in the FY22, fetching a y-o-y growth of 35.47%, which was $31.45 billion in the last fiscal.
The woven garments saw a growth of 33.82% to $19.4 billion in FY22, meaning that knitwear has surpassed woven.
The apparel items are basically divided into two parts considering the type of clothing - woven items and knitwear items.
T-shirts, polo shirts, sweaters, trousers, joggers, and shorts are called knitwear whereas formal shirts, pants, suits, denim, and jeans are known as woven clothing, they added.
According to industry insiders, during the 1980s, woven clothing, like shirts and pants, was the main export item of the apparel sector, fetching a share of nearly 90%.
After then, the capacity of the knitwear dresses was initiated gradually and knitwear and woven garments' contribution to total exports gradually came to parity.
However, the picture has changed in the last decade. According to the EPB data, the share of knitwear clothing increased in the country's total export by surpassing the woven garments.
Both knitwear and woven products experienced a dip in export in the 2019-20 fiscal year, 18.58% and 17.65% respectively. But the contribution of knitwear and woven was 41.3% and 41.7% of the total export respectively.
Industry insiders said that the increase in the contribution of knitwear in the total exports seems to be a normal trend. The share of knitwear has been increasing for a long time.
They also said that the rate of value addition for knitwear is also very high and the sector easily collects raw materials from domestic sources.
Mohammad Hatem, executive president of the Bangladesh Knitwear Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BKMEA), told Dhaka Tribune that the demand for knitwear is increasing day by day in the global market.
“The demand for knitwear has been increasing lately, thanks to the maintenance facilities, durability and fashionability,” he added.
He also said that knitwear uses 85% of raw materials from local sources. So, the rate of value addition in knitwear is high.
“It convinced the entrepreneurs to invest more in this sector and for this reason, the export of knitwear is increasing,” he added.
Fazlee Shamim Ehsan, vice-president of the Bangladesh Knitwear Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BKMEA), said that the main reason for increasing exports is the strong backward linkage capability of the knit garments.
“That is why we are in a better position in terms of pricing and delivery timing. Quicker delivery is a big factor in fashion,” he added.
He also said that the demand of buyers changes from time to time. Knitwear clothing is much more comfortable and easier to wear than woven, which has also been leaning buyers toward it.
Asked whether the demand for knitwear is increasing due to coronavirus, he said that the demand may have increased little for this in the last two fiscal years as people had to stay home.
“However, the export of knitwear has been increasing over the last few financial years, mainly due to the fashion switching of the buyers. People now use sports tracks instead of sweaters during winter,” he added.
Professor Mustafizur Rahman, a distinguished fellow of the Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD) said that the export of knitwear is increasing, which is also a positive sign as there are a lot of opportunities to add domestic value to the knitwear sector. Domestic value addition is 60% in knitwear, which is around 45% in woven.
He also recommended transforming from cotton-based products to man-made fibre-based products, intra-RMG diversification, emphasizing productivity, skill-driven competitiveness, signing preferential trade agreements, and market diversification.
