Bangladesh’s garment exports cannot escape the impact of world economic recession

The decline in garment exports will occur after March. Figures from the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) show that the UD certificates issued by the association to garment manufacturers fell by 7.68% year-on-year in December 2008, and fell 4.98% year-on-year in January 2009. Bangladeshi garment manufacturers import textile raw materials through UD certificates. The decline in the number of such certificates indicates that Bangladesh’s imports of textile raw materials are decreasing, indicating that garment exports will decrease in the future. The UD certificate is the best predictive indicator of the future performance of Bangladesh’s garment exports. Generally, the impact of the UD certificate will not be apparent until three months later. Therefore, it can be expected that garment exports will decline in March 2009. The Bangladeshi industry believes that the world economic recession has hit the European and American garment import markets. The Bangladesh garment industry was initially able to resist for a while, but now it seems that if the crisis deepens, Bangladesh will not be able to escape the impact of the crisis.