2022 is going to be a crucial year for the Bangladesh garments and textile industry. As the industry is going through a transformation phase some major organizational changes are on the card in the upcoming days.  Starting in the late 1970s, expanding heavily in the 1980s and finally booming in the 1990s, Ready Made Garments industry has created a success story for Bangladesh. Turning up as a gigantic industry within a short span of time, RMG sector has become the backbone to the economy of the country as the largest source of export earnings (84%) and employment (20 million). Bangladesh RMG sector has a goal to achieve 50 Billion export targets by year 2022 that will cover 8-10% of total apparel export of the world market. Currently the country holds approximately, 7% of that with 34-billion-dollar export.

Sector Profile, Garments and Textiles, Bangladesh, 2018-19 FY

• No. of export oriented garments industries : 4621
• Total garments export  : USD 34.13 billion
• % of total exports : 84.21%
• Labor force : 4 million
• % contribution to GDP : 11.17%
• % of value addition : 63.23%
• Major products : T-shirts, polo shirts, jerseys, pull overs, trousers
• Major markets : EU, USA, Canada

No of textile units

• Yarn Manufacturing  : 425
• Fabric Manufacturing : 796
• Dyeing-printing-finishing : 240
• Investment in primary textile sector : Over USD 6 billion
• Exports of textiles : USD 229 million (April-Sept, 2019)

The sector profile shows that the total no. of garments factories registered under BGMEA is 4621 now. If we analyze the trend of change in the no of factories from chart-1, the number of new factories being added every year is decreasing. There was a big drop in the number of industries in 2013-14 when accord and alliance came in to action. After that every year the on average around 75 new industries being added in total. Furthermore, we have seen that around 200 industries has been shut down in the recent times which indicated the newly added industries fully compliance and they are here to stay.  So, though the number of new industries every year is decreasing but the quality of the newly launched industries are far better taking Bangladesh in the next level as a role model of green industries and sustainable practices. Overall, the total number of LEED-certified garment factories in Bangladesh is 90 now, including the 24 platinum rated buildings, according to the USGBC.  Although the buyers are not paying any extra money for green buildings, such initiative still helps a lot in branding and it is necessary for own survival.

Value addition is increasing day by day as industries are becoming more self-sufficient in backward linkage industries specially in knit sector. in woven sector the industry is still dependent on foreign sources for fabrics which reduces the value addition scopes. Matter of hope is that the denim sector is rising heavily of late. According to major denim manufacturers of the country, they used to produce denim trousers for $5.50 and $7.0 a piece earlier, but now the price range has gone up to $10 to $11. Bangladesh exports denim goods worth more than $3 billion a year and has already overtaken China to become the top denim supplier to the EU. The production capacity of the 31 denim mills in Bangladesh is more than 40 million yards a month against a demand for nearly 70 million yards. The rest of the demand is met through imports from countries like China, India, Pakistan, and Turkey. According to manufacturers, new technologies used in washing and polishing as well as the increasing use of finer fabrics and design are allowing Bangladesh to add more value to denim items.

Export Growth

In the EU market Hungary, Cyprus, Portugal, Malta and Sweden registered highest growth, whereas the bigger markets like Germany, UKI, Spain, France and Italy registered very low growth. In the non-traditional market India, China, Japan, South Korea and South Africa recorded the highest growths. In this market segment only Turkey registered negative growth at -27.02% and another potential market for Bangladeshi apparel Russia registered 14.17% growth. so, overall indication from this analysis is that, more market innovation is required to sustain the export market as the regular markets like EU and USA are shrinking day by day mostly due to their near shoring and even on shoring business strategies taken off late.

Intramex Textile Ltd (ITL) is going to expand its existing composite textile project which involves Weaving, Dyeing, Yarn Dyeing, All Over Printing (AOP), Doubling and Twisting, Sizing and Warping in its existing operations.

The existing production capacity of ITL is: Weaving 8000 Yards/day where Daily 20,000 yards is required for meeting up the demand, Dyeing  25,000 yards where daily requirement is 20,000 yards, Yarn Dyeing 3,500 KG where daily requirement is 2,000 KG, All Over Printing (AOP) 6,000 KG where daily requirement is 4,500 kg, Doubling and Twisting 1,500 KG and Sizing and Warping 5,000 KG.

After expansion, ITL has planned to that weaving will be 75,000 Yards/day and dyeing 50,000 yards/day.

The attainable sales will be Daily BDT 6,142.31 mn, Monthly BDT 511.86 mn and Yearly BDT 20.47 mn. This project is located at Laxmipura, Chandona, Joydebpur, Gazipur, Bangladesh.