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| Kathmandu Thursday April 04, 2002 Chaitra 22, 2058. |
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Readymade garments exports dip
Post Report
KATHMANDU, April 3 : The garment industry, one
of the hardest hit sector among other industries, continue to fledge under a serious
downturn with the latest export figures showing a dismal performance.
Figures released by Garment Association Nepal
(GAN) show that the export of garment items to the United States alone slumped by over 60
per cent in March as compared to the figures of the same month last year.
Such decline was to the tune of 45 per cent in
January and 56 per cent in February. While readymade garments worth US $ 6.91 million was
exported in March 2002, the exports in the same period last year stood at US $ 17.3
million.
On a quarterly basis, with the 60 per cent
decline in March alone, the slump in the export of readymade garments to the United States
stood at over 53 per cent.
While garments worth US $ 59.6 million was
exported to the United States in the first quarter of 2001, the exports fell to touch US $
27.76 million in the first three months of 2002.
The drastic fall in exports to the United States
has far-reaching implications on the Nepali garment industry since it alone absorbs around
85 per cent of total garments exported from Nepal.
And adding to the woes of the failing sector,
garment exports to the European Union and Canada also declined. The fall in exports to
Canada is almost 98 per cent. While garments worth over half a million dollars was
exported to Canada last March, its exports fell to a little over six thousand dollars in
March this year.
Similarly, exports to EU, as per GAN
recommendation for certificate of origin, have also declined during the period. The fall
is against an increment of 16 per cent and 18 per cent in garment exports to EU in January
and February.
However, the fall in exports to EU is much less
as compared to the United States. While garment exports to EU in March last year stood at
US $ 1.34 million, it dropped over 15 per cent to settle at US$ 1.13 million in March
2002.
Garment entrepreneurs say that the industry is
bracing for worse days ahead since the inflow of orders have gone down drastically. Nepal
had exported garments worth US $ 164.22 million in 2000 and 136.53 million in 2001 to the
United States.
The woes of the industry had begun with the US
government allowing duty- and quota-free market access to garments from African and
Caribbean countries. Other factors, including the September 11 incident also affected the
Nepali garment industry adversely.
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