Trade war helps raise apparel export to US

The US-China trade war is directly benefitting Bangladeshi exporters, with garment shipments to the US increasing over 3 percent this year compared to that last year, said the leaders of Bangladesh Garment Buying House Association yesterday. 

Last year the shipments to Bangladesh’s largest export destination decreased 2 percent year-on-year, said the association’s President Kazi Iftequer Hossain at a press conference at its office in Dhaka.  

Though Bangladesh will continue to benefit from the trade skirmishes, the biggest gainer is Vietnam which has received more work orders, he said.  

The biggest challenges are fast adoption of automation and exploration of marketing avenues alongside meeting shortages of skilled mid-level manpower, he added. 

“We need to produce massive numbers of trained human resources to survive in the business in the age of automation,” said the association chief. 

Some Bangladeshi garment exporters are already in business with Amazon, a US-based global e-commerce giant, and industry insiders say marketing through one of the world’s largest online retailers leads to lesser dependence on human resources. 

“So the automation has been taking place not only in the production of the garment items but also in the distribution of the goods,” Hossain also said.

“Our garment business should be more technology dependent, otherwise we cannot go very far with the traditional marketing system and production in the factories,” he said replying to queries of journalists.

The formulation of the textile law last year has allowed buying houses to get registered with the government and come to the mainstream, bringing discipline to the sector, he added.  

Currently, the association has over 500 members, he said, adding that 46 have got registered with the government while another 164 have already applied.