Apparel Online Bangladesh Magazine January Issue 2019 | Page 25

POLICIES & PERSPECTIVES - 2018
<< Bangladesh Vs Vietnam < <
>> Future sourcing destination: Bangladesh or Vietnam May 2018
Bangladesh or Vietnam…The race for supremacy to become Asia’s powerhouse in apparel manufacturing and export is a hot topic of discussion amongst
the stakeholders of both the countries, and this is not without reasons. Amidst the apparent business shift from China (owing to increasing labour cost
and China moving further up the value chain), leaving in its wake huge business opportunities for new and established manufacturing destinations to
take advantage of, the debate whether Bangladesh would be able to continue its dream run unabated or will it be Vietnam which would capitalise on
the emerging opportunities to wrest the leadership crown, is raging strong.
“Yes, this is quite possible as they are currently almost at Bangladesh level… Both the countries stand
at about US $ 34 billion annual exports this year. Also, Vietnam has an advantage of a very stable
Government and far superior infrastructure and an educated and productive labour force. The
only drawback for Vietnam is the expensive labour when compared to that of Bangladesh. But the
Vietnamese workforce is more efficient and productive and so it is going to be a close call. Bangladesh
always has the size advantage of being a country of 170 million people as opposed to the 92 million
in Vietnam. But the country’s next five years’ growth will be mainly dependent on the Government’
stability, infrastructure development, plus streamlining the support services, such as customs and
banking,” said Roshan Withanage, Managing Director, CJ International Ltd.
“It would be difficult for Vietnam to compete with Bangladesh (in near future) for exports to USA and
that is mainly due to the price standpoint perspective. However, due to CPTPP, customers will enjoy
the benefit of duty-free importing to the countries that are part of this trade deal, which would result
in increase of exports from Vietnam and this could become a threat to Bangladesh,” maintained Upul
Pathirana, General Director-Head of Operations, Epic Designers Vietnam Ltd.
“Although Vietnam is running close to Bangladesh, I still think Bangladesh can maintain the lead
over Vietnam for the next few years at least. Bangladesh would be able to maintain the lead because
our apparel industry is also getting stronger everyday with product (within apparel) and market
diversification (like South America, China, etc). On the other hand, we have already about 70 Green
(LEED Certified) factories among which 14 factories earned LEED Platinum Certification with world
class set-up. Another 200 more factories are in the pipeline to be developed with similar structures. This
is and will enhance the image of the local apparel industry and will help a lot to attract the customers in
order to boost our export significantly,” underlined Md. Fazlul Hoque, Managing Director, Plummy
Fashions Limited.
“Yes, there is a threat to Bangladesh… If they (the industry) fail to change standards, it can go downwards
from many line items and criterions in the list in near future. As per the current data, Vietnam is above
Bangladesh and within recent 2-3 years’ time, Vietnam has clearly moved ahead in terms of growth in
apparel exports; besides, the number of workers and number of factories has also increased. Vietnam is
maintaining good labour standards by providing better working environment. They are improving
the standards everyday and also have good educational mechanism to provide good employees to the
companies; even their team member level people also have good educational background...,” highlighted
Wanigabaduga Sujeewa Indika, Chief Operating Officer, Utah Fashions Ltd.
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