Apparel Online Bangladesh Magazine January Issue 2019 | Page 17

POLICIES & PERSPECTIVES - 2018
>> Japan – Land of the Rising Business
Opportunities! April 2018
“There are no two ways; the Russian market is really
huge, but the buyers there are also difficult to handle
and sometimes even create problems pertaining
to payment. Vendors thus need to be careful while
executing orders for Russian clients,” cautioned Nipun
Nawaz, CEO, Nahid Trade International.
“We are working for the Russian market for more
than 10 years now; currently we are doing women’s
dress for the brand Outventure… The dissolution of
LC between Russia and Bangladesh has definitely
opened up new opportunities for the garment
exporters here,” opined M. Neaz A Bhuiyan, Director,
Chittagong Fashion Group.
“Russian market has good potential for growth.
After the crisis in 2015 (due to the growth of
exchange rates), the market has started to grow again
and according to various sources, the growth rate
is somewhere between 2-7 per cent at present. Some
general trends of the Russian retail market are:
off-price segment is growing; in terms of production,
there is emphasis to reduce the manufacturing cost
by using local factories while also sourcing from new
destinations (instead of traditional ones) that are
more cost-effective; there is emergence of start-ups
and private labels; in fashion section, there is a lot of
scope in categories such as innerwear and outerwear;
many fashion brands are planning to open
representative offices in Russia,” said MariyaKelina,
Senior Consultant – Retail & FMCG, Kontakt
(InterSearch Group Russia).
Renowned as the land of the rising sun, Japan is strongly emerging as the
land of immense business opportunities, especially in readymade garments.
With a population of 127.1 million, GDP per capita (PPS) of US $ 36,194 and an
unemployment rate of mere 4 per cent, revenue in the apparel market in the
world’s third largest economy is expected to grow annually by CAGR 1.9 per cent
to touch US $ 92.40 billion by 2021 as per Statista.
“Japan market is not easy to handle…They
are very choosy and highly quality-conscious
with zero tolerance towards errors… But if
one is good at what one does, price is not a
problem with the Japanese buyers. They pay for
workmanship and quality,” maintained
Mir Gulzar-A-Alam, CEO, Western Fashion
Tex & Sourcing, a buying house, specialising in
suites to cater to Japan market alongside UK.
“Lot of the manufacturers are not capable
of offering such standards yet… You need to
be very high on quality and commitment
to be successful in Japan,” underlined Rajiv
Islam, MD of buying house Prisma BD Ltd.,
who works with three manufacturing units
exclusively to cater to the demands for knit,
woven and sweaters from the Japanese clients.
“There are more than 40 apparel items that we
export to Japan including trousers, T-shirts,
jersey pullovers, shirts, babies’ garments, etc…
In the last fiscal year, our overall export was
not very healthy. However, in last eight months
(from July to February), exports are picking up
once again and there is more than 8 per cent
overall growth. Currently we are mostly doing
the basic items, but if we intend to capture
markets like Japan, we would have to come
up with fancy, fashionable and value-added
items. If we can diversify our product basket,
we can definitely grab these opportunities in
the non-traditional markets. Manufacturers in
Bangladesh have understood this well and are
accordingly upgrading their manufacturing
practices and product offerings…” opined
Mohammed Nasir, Vice President (Finance),
BGMEA.
www.apparelresources.com | January 2019 | Apparel Online Bangladesh
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