Japan emerges as strong destination for garment exports

Shipments rise 18.53pc year-on-year in 2012-13

Refayet Ullah Mirdha

The country's garment exports to Japan are on the rise on the back of favourable trade policy and higher demand, industry insiders said.
In fiscal 2012-13, garment exports to Japan stood at $478.48 million, up 18.53 percent year-on-year, according to data from Export Promotion Bureau. The figures were $247.51 million and $173.32 million in fiscal 2010-11 and 2009-10 respectively.
The reason for the steady increase in garment exports to the East Asian island nation is its 'China+1 strategy', announced by the Japanese government in 2008 to reduce dependency on China, the largest garment supplier worldwide. The policy promotes shifting of production from China to other nations such as Bangladesh.
“Japan is a very promising market, and it is to do with the prevalence of fast fashion there. The demand for denims is very high,” said Sharif Uddin, senior merchandiser of Pacific Jeans, which has been doing business with Japanese buyers for a “long time now”.
He said the garment makers are desperately looking for merchandisers with proficiency in the Japanese dialect in a bid to get a foot in the door of a market worth more than $35 billion a year.
Mohammad Hatem, vice-president of Bangladesh Knitwear Manufacturers and Exporters Association, said knitwear exports to Japan now stand at around $500 million, which was $100 million even a few years ago.
“Our exports to Japan will increase rapidly if there is stability in our internal politics,” he said, adding that knitwear export growth to Japan is more than 50 percent a year due to relaxation of Rules of Origin (RoO) by the Japanese government on April 1, 2012.
Being a member of the least-developed countries' group, Bangladesh has duty-free access to Japan for woven products.