Bangladesh garment makers say exports to soar as currency falls

DHAKA: Bangladesh's leading garment-making group has forecast annual exports will nearly double to hit USD 18 billion in 2010 thanks to a falling currency.

But soaring food costs could cloud the picture by creating labour unrest that may disrupt output, it warned.

Garment export sales fetched USD 9.3 billion out of a total USD 12.18 billion in export earnings in the last financial year to June 2007.

A currency which is broadly pegged to the sharply weakening dollar has seen buyers rushing into Bangladesh and switching their orders from rival China and India, whose currencies have appreciated strongly against the US greenback.

"Our products have become cheaper... We're now getting huge orders," said Anisur Rahman Sinha, owner of Opex group, the country's largest garment manufacturer.

The country's garment exports grew by 58 per cent in January to USD 957 million from the same month a year earlier, taking the seven months' exports to over USD 5.8 billion.

"We're confident garments exports will reach USD 11 billion in the 2007-08 fiscal year and USD 18 billion in 2010," said Anwar ul Alam Chowdhury Parvez, head of the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association.

"Almost everyone has orders till September," said Parvez.

Opex's Sinha, whose group recently built two big denim plants which each have capacity to produce 100,000 meters (yards) a day, said its exports would rise to USD 300 million this year from USD 250 million last year.