Mehdi Musharraf Bhuiyan

After years of EU-American duopoly in the apparel export market, knitwear manufacturers are eyeing the untapped destinations of East Asia, Southern Africa and Latin America; as the country's largest foreign exchange earners have felt the pinch of the fallout from the recent global recession.

During the three-day long Knitwear Expo currently being held in the city, leaders in the local knitwear industry are targeting buyers from Japan, South Korea, South Africa and various South American countries, a notion that signals the shift from the transatlantic dependence of the local apparel sector.

"This is the most unique feature of this year's Expo I must say, and something which makes the event a timely one", said Md. Fazlul Hoque, President of Bangladesh Knitwear Manufactures & Exporters Association (BKMEA), the organiser of the event.

A total of 139 buyers from various countries have visited Bangladesh for the first time on the occasion of this expo. Of the total 52 arrived from Japan, 26 from Hong Kong and 14 from South Africa, BKMEA informed the newsmen.

Industry leaders said Japan imports apparels worth around US$ 25 billion every year and is a potentially large market for Bangladeshi apparel exporters.

However, China, which tops the chart of the knitwear exporters all over the world, has an overwhelming presence in the Japanese apparel market.

"There are some unique characteristics of the Japanese market, which makes it a challenging one for the local apparel manufacturers" Fazlul Haq said, "Japanese people are more fashion conscious compared to their European counterparts and the demand of market is more varied".

The recent move means that many leading knit manufacturers would partly shift their focus to various locations around the world, nevertheless without ignoring the importance of the vast EU or US markets.

"Usually, 70 per cent of the products manufactured in my factory is shipped to USA while 25 per cent of them finds their way to Europe, but as the recession draws to end, I am now looking for buyers from Japan and other countries", said Md. Ashraful Haq Sikder, General Manager of Rupashi Knit Wears Limited, a leading knit manufacturer.

"Due to their higher production cost; Chinese apparels are still more expensive than ours, So, if we can highlight 'lower cost and lower price' factor of our country to the Japanese buyers, there is high potential for Bangladeshi knitwear manufacturers in Japan", said, Shoaib Arefin of Wisdome Apparels Limited.

Industry insiders observe this late shift in the apparel industry as a positive sign, as the move is likely to eliminate decades of dependence on the European and American market.

With an export that peaked to US$ 6.43 billion in 2008/09, Bangladesh stands as the world's third largest Knitwear exporter, which also contributes to 41.31 per cent of the country's total national export.

During the recent global financial downturn, the local garments and knitwear industry was virtually on a thin ice, as most of its major markets were severely hit by the recession, raising concerns within the industry circle.

Since then, there have been calls from the leaders from the sector as well as the stakeholders for identifying new destinations and diversifying the market to avoid the risk of overwhelming dependence on a few particular regions.

"Our target in the long term is to capture 20 per cent of the Japanese apparel market, but initially we would happy with nearly five per cent of that chunk", BKMEA President said.