Bangladesh’s garment exporters may get cash incentives for making goods out of manmade fibers.

Currently the country has no special cash incentive for manmade fiber-based garment items. Development of a manmade fiber-based garment industry is important for three important reasons -- tackling the graduation challenges, the pandemic's fallouts and grabbing a bigger global market share.

Once Bangladesh graduates from an underdeveloped to a developing country in 2026, exporters may face the associated challenges. Garment exporters have demanded the incentive citing the severe fallouts of the pandemic. And the country can grab a bigger share of the global market since prices of garment items made from manmade fibers are higher than those made from cotton. Global demand for manmade fiber-based garments is higher than that for cotton-based ones. Of garment items produced in the world, 78 per cent are made from manmade fibers and the rest from cotton.In Bangladesh, the picture is the opposite.Of garment items shipped from Bangladesh, 74 per cent is made from cotton fibers and the rest is manufactured from non-cotton fibers.

Since China and Vietnam have been increasing their share of the global manmade fiber apparel markets, Bangladesh feels it’s time to grab a bigger market share.