It is an obvious reason to be optimistic when it comes to the future of Bangladesh: an expanding economy with macroeconomic stability, more than 6 percent annual average GDP growth, robust performance of remittance and exports, strong foreign currency reserve — the underlying strengths that are moving the country forward. The country that in not too distant past used to make headlines in the international media as a country of poverty and natural disaster has now one of 10 new emerging economies in the world that showed, despite all odds and challenges, potentials of steady growth. According to a study of PwC, a UK-based global consulting firm, Bangladesh is projected to become 23rd biggest economy in the world in next 35 years. Bangladesh has already achieved the status of lower-middle income country. The sector that has enormous contribution to Bangladesh's rise to today's prestigious position with stable economic growth is none other than ready-made garment (RMG) industry. Has anyone ever thought that a country, which does not produce cotton, will be the second largest apparel exporter in the world? But Bangladesh has achieved what people could not even dream of. The RMG industry, which started its journey as a small non-traditional sector of export, gradually has become a mighty pillar of the economy as the main source of export earnings and employment generation. The apparel industry took the export earnings from $31.57 million in 1983 to $25.5 billion in 2015. The sector accounts for around 81% of the country's total export earnings and directly employs around 4 million people, mostly women. Besides, the industry indirectly supports livelihood of around 40 million people of the country. Why is Bangladesh a preferred apparel sourcing destination for renowned brands and retailers across the world? People of around 150 countries wear garment with ‘Made in Bangladesh' tag. Obviously there is no magic wand that helps Bangladesh to become the second largest apparel exporting country in the world. It is the industry's strengths that have made our country a preferred apparel sourcing destination across the globe. One of Bangladesh's strengths is huge workforce that has acted as a catalyst for the boom in the readymade garment industry in the country. Its huge population has appeared to be a blessing as it is the driving force behind success of the labor-intensive RMG industry. The vibrant and young population (around 76% of the people are below 40 years of age) is the major strength of our RMG industry. According to the Labor Survey 2010, Bangladesh has 56.7 million economically active people (39.5 million male and 17.2 million female). Moreover, around 2 million people are entering the labor market every year. So it is very clear that with this huge workforce there is a bright prospect for our labor-intensive apparel industry. What gives the RMG sector considerable strength is the fact that this sector always adheres to compliance, which is an important issue that international buyers take into consideration while placing their orders. In the last two and half years the RMG industry has underwent a massive transformation in terms of workplace safety and working conditions in Bangladesh. All factories have been inspected by three national and international platforms — The Bangladesh Accord on Fire and Building Safety, the Alliance for Bangladesh Worker Safety, and National Action Plan. Factories are now carrying out their remediation. After completion of all remediation our apparel industry it is now regarded as the safest industry in the world. Moreover, the government of Bangladesh and entrepreneurs placed utmost importance to the fact that the garment industry can grow in a more planned way than before. An industrial park is being established in the district of Munshiganj for relocating garment factories, which are located in shared buildings. Besides, new modern factories will be set up in the park that will create more jobs for people. The strength of Bangladesh apparel industry also lies in the strong support of backward linkage industry. It has strong backward linkages industries that have reduced dependence on imported immediate materials, thus bringing down production cost. The sector is almost self-sufficient for knit fabric as more than 90% of knitwear fabric is manufactured in Bangladesh. The woven fabric manufacturing and processing capacity is also growing rapidly that has reached 2.2 billion meters per annum. Besides, currently it has around 10 million spindles installed that can produce up to 2.1 billion kgs of yarn per year. However, the woven textile mills can now meet only around 40% requirement of the export oriented RMG industry, indicating a huge market in Bangladesh and highly potential area for investment. This sector is also almost self-sufficient for trims and accessories. So with the expansion of the RMG industry the backward linkage industries developed and have been playing an important role in reducing lead time and offering competitive price in the international market. The duty-free access to world market is another big advantage over other competitors. As an LDC Bangladesh has duty-free market access in most of the developed countries including EU, Norway, Switzerland, Canada, Japan, Australia, Chile and partial market access in India, China, South Korea, Malaysia. This trade privilege also helps offer competitive price. However, RMG sector never compromises on the quality of garment products to keep the price low; rather it produces quality products maintaining international standards. Its competitive price, quality garments and shorter lead time have helped get an edge over other competitors and have attracted many renowned global brands. Now Bangladesh is also producing high-end garments for top brands of the world. The ever-increasing presence of global brands and their liaison office in Bangladesh also reflects their confidence and long-term commitment to Bangladesh RMG sector. Bangladesh is also in a more advantageous position than its regional competitors by having more than 4,000 active RMG factories with an average of 1,500-2,000 workers per factory, as compared to Indonesia with around 2,450 RMG factories, Vietnam with about 2,000 and Cambodia with around 450. Moreover, the garment factories have grown up in the form of cluster; most of the factories are located in Savar, Gazipur, Narayanganj and Chittagong and the clusters of RMG factories extend across a small geographically small area, which facilitates transportation of garment products. Moreover, the distance from Dhaka to Chittagong Port is not more than 300 kilometers; so it takes shorter lead time to deliver the products. With the advent of fast fashion there is an increased pressure on producers to deliver fast, so global buyers place more orders in Bangladesh due to its ability to make quick shipment of garments. With rapid expansion of our RMG sector, the demand for skilled professionals at mid-management level has risen. Bangladesh has already set a target of earning $50 billion from RMG exports in 2021. There will be a big demand for multi-dimensional skilled workforces to achieve the export target of Vision 2021. BGMEA is working with different national and international organizations for running a number of skill development programs in the country. There are 34 training centers run by BGMEA in collaboration with the government to develop skilled manpower for the garment industry. These institutes train on average 10,000 people every year. Apart from public textile engineering institutions, BGMEA has set up BGMEA University of Fashion and Technology (BUFT) to cater to the need for skilled mid-level management professionals in the garment industry. BGMEA has established the Center of Excellence for Bangladesh Apparel Industry (CEBAI) in association with the ILO and the financing partnership with H&M and SIDA. It will be a high-profile entity that would not only respond to demand-driven skills development initiatives, but also concentrate on research and development for the sector to turn the best ideas and thoughts into a strategic development agenda. Since its journey three decades back, the RMG industry of Bangladesh has been marching forward steadily rising to all challenges and obstacles. Now the goal is to achieve the vision of reaching $50 billion in RMG exports by 2021. Saudi businessmen and entrepreneurs can explore investment and business opportunities in this huge market in Bangladesh. Please do visit Bangladesh and contact the Embassy in Riyadh at HYPERLINK "mailto:[email protected]" [email protected] or visit BGMEA at HYPERLINK "http://www.bgmea.com.bd" www.bgmea.com.bd for further details. The Embassy and BGMEA are eagerly waiting to assist Saudi brothers and sisters to explore the enormous potentialities in this sector in Bangladesh.
