April 25, 2018

Bangladesh is still a lucrative destination for sourcing low-cost garment items, coming second to only China, according to the Global Sourcing Survey-2018 by the Asia Inspection, which provides inspection services to global brands. “Outside of China, India and Bangladesh are increasingly given preferences for textile sourcing due to being lower-cost destinations,” said the report on the survey conducted by AI in December last year. Top officials of more than 250 companies working in all major consumer product segments were interviewed for the survey. Of the total respondents, 16 percent said Bangladesh is their destination of choice for sourcing textile and garment products. China though remains in the lead: it is a regular sourcing destination for nearly 88 percent of the respondents and half of the businesses expect to buy even more from there in 2018.“The work order situation is positive now,” said Asif Zahir, director of Ananta Group, a leading garment exporter. Thanks to the rebound of economic situation in Europe and the US, the retailers and brands are placing work orders in bulk in Bangladesh. At the same time, Bangladesh’s reputation has also improved due to inspection and remediation of the garment factories by the Accord and Alliance. However, buyers do not want to pay higher prices, although the cost of production will go up further with wage hike, port congestion and higher transportation cost. “Of course, Bangladesh is a lucrative destination for the global garment buyers,” said Anwar-ul Allam Chowdhury Parvez, a former president of the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association

Source: RMG BD