BANGLADESH CANVAS
Japan : Bangladesh knit manufacturers expecting big orders for Olympics ’ 20
Bangladesh ’ s knit manufacturers are expecting a big order of cotton-made sports and fashion items from Japan on the occasion of 2020 Summer Olympics where millions are expected to converge .
Expectations have arisen after Bangladesh put on a big show at the Tokyo Fashion World 2018 , the largest comprehensive fashion event of Japan , recently .
The Summer Olympics 2020 , Tokyo , will be held from 27 July 2020 to 9 August 2020 . The international event is expected to draw millions of visitors and tourists from all over the world . It is expected they will be in need of big volume of knitwear items like T-shirts , polo shirts and sweaters .
“ We are expecting a huge order for the Olympics from Japan . We are hoping orders will start to come from next year . It will boost our exports to the country ,” Fazlee Shamim Ehsan , second Vice President of Bangladesh Knitwear Manufacturers and Exporters Association ( BKMEA ), told Apparel Online .
Furthermore , he added that the main economic viability of the possibility rests on the current high prices of Chinasourced apparel items . “ We produce apparel items lower in cost than China . Before our participation in the fair , Japan did not know that we could produce such high-end items at low cost ,” he shared .
BKMEA insiders say that after the Tokyo Fashion World 2018 exposition , a meeting was held between BKMEA and Japan ’ s Ministry of Economy , Trade and Industry , which has spun new hopes for the Bangladeshi knit makers . And , during the fair , a spot order of US $ 25 million was received .
Now , after such overwhelming response , knit makers think that exports to the country will gain momentum . Recently , a press release issued by the BKMEA said that Japan has assured that it will continue to give stage-one GSP facility for the knit manufacturers of Bangladesh .
Meanwhile , Japan began 2018 with a massive drop in its apparel imports both in volumes and values . During January , the country ’ s imports tumbled 11.44 per cent in volumes , whereas values were down by 10.15 per cent on the Y-o-Y basis .
According to Apparel Online ’ s in-depth analysis , Japan spent more money to import apparels in the first month of 2018 . The UVR of imported apparels was Yen 460 , up 2.22 per cent from the UVR of last year ’ s corresponding month at Yen 450 .
Over the years , Japanese consumer ’ s apparel spending has been greatly affected by factors such as tax increment , ageing population and low disposable income . These factors have resulted in price-sensitivity among the Japanese customers , further causing a change in purchasing pattern , and simultaneously in the apparel industry of Japan .
As a consequence , even the major apparel exporters could not do well in their respective exports to Japan . China was down significantly in volume-wise apparel exports to the third-largest economy of the world by 16.49 per cent . On the other hand , values too tumbled by 19.14 per cent .
During the review period , India fell both in its volume-wise and value-wise apparel exports to Japan by 5.40 per cent and 1.65 per cent , respectively .
Bangladesh ’ s export performance was no different than China and India . Apparel exports to Japan during the review period dropped by 2.25 per cent in volumes and 4.63 per cent in values . The country noted decline in both knitted and woven segments .
Interestingly , Vietnam performed remarkably well surpassing all other nations ( in percentage-wise growth ) in apparel exports to Japan as the South- East Asian manufacturing powerhouse grew by 10.84 per cent in volumes , whereas the country got a 10.07 per cent boost in the export value .
38 Apparel Online Bangladesh | JUNE 2018 | www . apparelresources . com