First half was promising for apparel

The first and second quarters of the outgoing year were fine for the garment exporters as the international retailers and brands were coming up with quite a lot of work orders with the recovery of the global supply chain from the severe fallouts of the Covid-19.

However, the inflow of work orders from the international retailers and brands started declining since October in the outgoing year.

The placement of work orders between October and December till date this year has declined by more than 20 per cent compared with the corresponding period of last year because of the Russia-Ukraine war.

In 2022, one of the most spectacular achievements of Noman Group and the garment sector was an outstanding rise in the inflow of the work orders from the international retailers and brands for which the country also witnessed an amazing growth in export earning of foreign currency from apparel shipment.

However, the Russia-Ukraine war put a damper on the earnings a bit as the inflow of work orders declined a bit. Currently Noman Group, which has exported garment items worth $1.3 billion in the outgoing year, has been running at 90 per cent capacity as there is a little bit of a gas crisis.

Noman Group employs 80,000 workers in its 28 industrial units and expects to recruit more workers if the economic situation improves further in the upcoming years.

The coming year may witness some crisis because of gloomy global economic outlooks and inflation. Nevertheless, we expect 2023 to be a year of opportunity as the international retailers and brands are coming up with more work orders in the new normalcy of war.

Moreover, a business house sees a risk as an opportunity.