Special Report:  Global Financial Crisis

    DHAKA, Nov. 19 (Xinhua) -- Bangladesh's major export item garments, in the first quarter of the current fiscal year, recorded a robust 44 percent growth as the western market increased their orders in economic recession.

    According to Bangladesh's Export Promotion Bureau (EPB) data released here on Wednesday, in the first quarter of 2008-09 fiscal (July 2008-June 2009), the garments fetched over 3.36 billion U.S.dollars, 44.36 percent higher than that of the corresponding period of the previous fiscal.

    In the July-September period, the woven sub-sector fetched 1.525 billion U.S. dollars, registering 36.67 percent growth, while the knitwear export earning was recorded at 1.831 billion U.S. dollars with a 52.05 percent growth.

    Officials and trade analysts said Bangladesh's garments export is still out of danger and unlikely to feel the extreme pinch of world financial tsunami.

    They said the country mostly exports low-end products to the global market, demand for which has already risen as recession-hit consumers are showing more interest in buying low-cost goods.

    Chief of the EPB Shahab Ullah told Xinhua on Wednesday that the western market recession would rather be a boon for Bangladesh's garments industry, already known as a credible source of low-cost products.

    "We are in better position than India, Pakistan and many other countries in manufacturing garments as we have better access to raw materials and available workforce," he said.

    President of Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) Anwar-Ul-Alam Chowdhury Parvez said until now the exports of Bangladesh apparel items seem safe from the global financial recession.

    But the chief of BGMEA, a body of the country's around 4000 apparel owners, said the exports in next several months may not be the same as the orders normally slow in the period after Christmas.

    Zaid Bakht, research director of Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies, a public sector organization, earlier said that if the financial turmoil is prolonged, Bangladesh's export earning may be adversely affected.

    Bangladesh's total export earnings were 4.381 billion U.S. dollars in the July-September period against three-month target for 4.014 billion U.S. dollars.

    The country exported goods worth 14.11 billion U.S. dollars in the 2007-08 fiscal year, with garments earning accounting for over two thirds.

    The total annual export target for the current 2008-09 fiscal year had been fixed at 16.298 billion U.S. dollars.