Despite struggling exports, Bangladesh remains a lucrative HOTSPOT for international apparel retailers and brands to source cheap apparel items, a new Global Sourcing Survey-2018, by Asia Inspection (AI), says.
“Outside of China, India and Bangladesh are increasingly given preferences for textile sourcing, being lower-cost destinations,” says the survey conducted by the institution in December 2017.
Just in case you didn’t know, the Asia Inspection is a quality control and compliance provider among global companies which claims it interviewed top officials of over 250 companies worldwide to produce the latest report.
The report says, 88 per cent of the respondents preferred China as the major choice for sourcing apparel items while 16 per cent said they would prefer Bangladesh. Vietnam, on the other hand, stands as the next popular sourcing spot after China, securing 43 per cent of preference opinions, followed by India at 37%.
Among other popular geographical sourcing destinations mentioned in the report were Europe, North America, Turkey, Indonesia, Latin America, Middle East and Australia.
The report says that cost of manufacturing and raw materials were a priority issue for sourcing apparel items in 2017 and predicted that the trend will continue into 2018.
Notably, Bangladesh is the third-largest apparel manufacturing destination, next to China and Vietnam, with over 6 per cent of global market share. The apparel makers think they have the chance to increase the share and turn the nearly US $ 30 billion industry to US $ 50 billion by 2021.
Importantly, Bangladesh’s minimum wage is the lowest in the world, standing at approximately US $ 65 now. However, it is expected to rise within a few months as a new salary structure is being formulated. Nevertheless, it is still less than China (US $ 185 approx.) and Vietnam (US $ 170 approx.).
The report also covered other sectors such as food, toys and recreational products, footwear, promotional products, electricals, homeware, etc.
