Apparel export to non-traditional markets increased by over 21% during the financial year 2013-14.
The new markets include Australia, Brazil, Chile, China, India, Japan, Korea, Mexico, Russia, South Africa and Turkey.
Bangladesh’s traditional markets for garment exports are Europe and the United States. Export Promotion Bureau data showed the country earned a total of $3.6bn in last fiscal year exporting garment products to these newly discovered markets.
In the FY2012-13, the earnings from these destinations totalled $2.97bn.
Among the non-traditional markets, Turkey was the highest importer of Bangladeshi garments with $622m in the FY14, followed by Japan with $572m.
Australia imported $430m, China $241m and Brazil $170m, EPB data said.
The government and private sector took some special initiatives in last fiscal to diversify market of the ready-made garment (RMG) products and reduce dependency on the traditional big destinations.
“Significant growth in apparel exports is the reflection of efforts undertaken by the government and private sectors including BGMEA and BKMEA to explore new destinations for RMG products,” said Finance Secretary Mahbub Ahmed.
Mahbub Ahmed was Commerce Secretary when the initiatives were taken.
“In the last fiscal year, we went to Russia and Latin America with a team in search of new destinations,” he said.
Vice-president of Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) Shahidullah Azim said export to non-traditional markets increased as the suppliers to those markets faced “no trouble” with Accord and Alliance inspections as “it happened to the European, US and Canadian markets.”
The apparel exports to the major EU countries also rose to $14.74bn in the year, which is 17.35% higher compared to previous year.
Exports to the USA totalled $5.14bn with 2.9% growth from one year ago. RMG products fetched $1bn from Canada, posting 2.22% rise in the market.
The country’s export earnings rose by 11.65% to over $30bn in the last financial year, riding on the RMG sector despite political turmoil and labour unrest.
Apparel exports have seen 13.83% growth to $24.49bn in the year.
Knitwear products earned $12.03bn with 15% rise in FY14 from $10.47bn in FY13, while Woven garments export totalled $12.44bn posting 12.70% growth compared to the previous year’s $11.03bn.
