India is likely to be the third largest readymade garment export destination if Bangladesh gets duty-free access to the neighboring country.
"The Indian domestic market is as big as $28 billion as it has a 450-million middle class and the demand is growing like anything," BGMEA president Salam Murshedy told the news media on Friday.
The European Union and the US are the first and second biggest destinations for Bangladesh's RMG export.
"Indian RMG industry is unlikely to cope with the growing demand and Bangladesh is the only neighbor where it can outsource work," Murshedy said.
All the major brands in the world have opened up their outlets in India and it will be a big opportunity for Bangladesh to grab the opportunity, he added.
The BGMEA president hopes that there would be an announcement about the duty-free access during the next upcoming visit of Indian Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh to Bangladesh.
"Commerce minister M Faruk Khan visited New Delhi in October and he got an assurance from his Indian counterpart that Bangladesh would get the duty-free access," he said.
Murshedy said Bangladesh has now become a 'manufacturing market' rather than a 'buyers' market' as it is more competitive compared to its competitors. "Once buyers dominated the manufacturers, but now the situation has changed."
The business leader said if the government could ensure gas and power supply, and smooth operation of port, the export will jump to $25 billion in three years' time.
"At present, 25 percent of the capacity remains unutilized due to utility problems and we're facing labor shortage problem too. If the government helps the BGMEA to train workers, it has the ability to train 0.8 to 1.0 million people within a short period of time," he added.
Bangladesh is now at the crossroads of huge opportunity due to single-country derogation facility provided by the EU and export potentials to new market, he said.
The European Union has announced relaxed GSP facility for the Bangladesh RMG products with effect from January 1, 2011. "Export to new markets, including Japan, Australia, Brazil, South Africa, Chili and Turkey, has increased manifold," he said.
Japan, Australia and New Zealand provide duty-free access to RMG products from Bangladesh.
"The global recession has been a blessing in the disguise as it helped the local manufacturers explore new markets around the world," Salam said.
"Now we're getting some benefits as prices are increasing for the RMG products," he said adding, "The production cost has increased and so are the prices."
If the trend continues, the earnings from RMG export will exceed the target of $15 billion this fiscal.
During the first four months of the current fiscal, the country earned over $6 billion from the sector.
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