He said MMF-based textile trade volume stood US dollar 150 billion in 2017 while Bangladesh’s share was only 5 against Bangladesh’s competitor Vietnam’s share of 10 per cent.
The BGMEA president said though there was investment in the non-cotton or MMF sector in the past; it was mainly capital investment and technology-based investment.
He said it will encourage investment and exports in the non-cotton sector if 10 per cent incentive is given on export of non-cotton products. Faruque said they did not see that much investment in the sector in the last couple of years which is required for employment generation.
McKinsey in its recent report said the ready-made garment (RMG) industry is a mainstay of this economic success story and Bangladesh is today one of the world’s largest garment exporters, with the RMG sector accounting for 84 per cent of Bangladesh’s exports.
However, it said, the pandemic has stalled the sector’s progress at a crucial moment; just as global shifts in fashion sourcing threaten Bangladesh’s position in industry supply chains.
Referring to the report, the BGMEA president said over the past decade, Bangladesh’s RMG sector has made impressive progress in tackling the challenges of growth—particularly in diversifying customers and products, improving supplier and workforce performance, and strengthening compliance and sustainability.
“We’ll remain transparent,” he said and referred to the report that says Bangladesh’s RMG sector is today a frontrunner in transparency regarding factory safety and value chain responsibility.
The BGMEA president said they, within the next three months, will launch “Centre of Innovation and Efficiency.”
Bangladesh exported US dollar 34.13 billion worth of RMG products in the 2018-19 fiscal while the country's earnings from garment export in the 2019-20 fiscal declined to US dollar 27.83 billion.
After the third quarter of fiscal 2020-21, export earnings from the garment products stood at US dollar 23.49 billion.