Bangladesh's garment industry gets more orders despite world economic recession: Exporter
4/12/2008 16:17
World financial crisis has provided an opportunity for Bangladesh's
garment industry to get more orders, an exporter said in Dhaka today.
Khalil
Rahman Chowdhury, chairman of Khalil Group, a medium- sized garment company,
told Xinhua today that his company is getting more orders than before but with
less prices.
Khalil said the western buyers are cutting their prices because
of the financial crisis.
"China and other garment manufacturing countries
can't afford the price cut, but we can because our labors are cheaper and they
can work overtime," he said.
"The workers in my factories are working 3 hours
more, they earn more, they are happy," he added.
Khalil said, "If we improve
our efficiency, it will not be a problem for surviving."
He said it is the
toughest time for Bangladesh's garment industry since it started in early
1980s.
"We had more comfortable time when it was easy to make money, but now
profit becomes less," he said.
"Garment export is the major export industry
in Bangladesh, so we must try our best to survive in the financial crisis," he
added.
The export of garment in Bangladesh rose to US$10.7 billion in the
last fiscal year (from July 2007 to June 2008) comparing with US$9.3 billion a
year ago, accounting for 76 percent of total export in the country.
The
garment industry of Bangladesh employs around 2.5 million workers, 85 percent of
them are women.
Xinhua
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