INDIAN yarn maker Damodar Industries Ltd aims to export 2,000 tonnes of yarn to Bangladesh a year in three years from its annual shipment of 500 tonnes now.

“Increasing the shipment to 2,000 tonnes from 500 tonnes in three years is no difficult job. Demand for yarn in Bangladesh is on the rise, riding on the back of higher garment exports,” said SC Tandon, a senior official of Damodar Industries.

Twelve major garment exporters in Bangladesh have been purchasing raw materials from his company for many years now, Tandon told The Daily Star at Garmentech, an exhibition of machinery, garment accessories and yarn and fabrics that opened at International Convention City Bashundhara in Dhaka on Jan 13.

Bangladesh is a good export destination for his company, as top global brands and retailers are customers of Bangladeshi apparel, he said.

China is no longer a lucrative destination for apparel and accessory makers due to higher costs of production and a shortage of skilled workers, according to Tandon.

On Bangladesh’s target to export garment items worth $50bn by 2021, Tandon said doubling the export value of garments is possible as work orders are shifting to Bangladesh from China, the world’s largest apparel exporter. Bangladesh exported apparel worth $26.5bn last fiscal year. “The reputation and quality of Bangladeshi garment items is higher. This is one of the major reasons behind the higher export.”

Chinmay Sharma, manager (export) of Winsome Yarns Ltd, another Indian yarn manufacturer, said: “Bangladesh will remain a lucrative destination for us for the next 10 years at least, as garment business is growing tremendously.”

Bangladesh is still more competitive than China, Cambodia and Vietnam, said Sharma, whose company supplies yarn and fabrics to 38 countries and has a yearly turnover of $90m, 45pc of which is generated from Bangladesh. Tangshun, a Chinese fabric maker that participated in the fair, supplies fabrics worth $10m a year, mainly to the US and Europe.

“We came here to explore the Bangladeshi market, as it is a good market for fabric suppliers,” said Capriwa, owner of Tangshun, who uses one name. This is his first visit to Bangladesh as he heard a lot about the market.

Andy Liu, sales-in-charge of Zoje, a Chinese supplier of sewing machines, said: “Shipments of machinery have been increasing in Bangladesh since September. Our business here is ever-expanding.” In 2015, Zoje supplied 3,500 sewing machines to Youngone, a leading garment manufacturer, said Liu. “It was one of the biggest shipments in recent years to a single company in Bangladesh.”

He regularly supplies sewing machinery to 40 garment factories in Bangladesh. “We are satisfied with the Bangladeshi market. It is a big market for us as China is losing its market share in the global garment business,” said Liu, who supplies sewing machi­nes worth $6m to Bangladesh a year.

A total of 300 companies from 30 countries in 400 stalls and pavilions are exhibiting their products at the 15th edition of the four-day Garmentech Bangladesh 2016.

Courtesy: The Daily Star/ANN

Published in Dawn, Business & Finance weekly, January 18th, 2016