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| Kathmandu, Thursday March 06, 2003 Falgun 22, 2059. |
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Garment export to US surges by
72pc in Feb
Post Report
KATHMANDU, March 5: Export of garments to the
United States, which absorbs almost 85 per cent of the total garments exported abroad from
Nepal, surged in February. Such an increment comes for the seventh straight month.
Export data released by Garment Association
Nepal (GAN) today reveals that exports to the US increased by over 72 per cent in February
this year as compared to the exports of the same month last year.
Entrepreneurs hope that the latest series of
upturn would sustain in the longer run. The upturns come at a time when a US Senator is
drafting a bill to allow preferential entry to Nepali garments in the US markets.
Garment exports to the US has been on an upturn
since August 2002, prior to which it had declined for thirteen consecutive months.
However, despite the increments over the last seven months, the dollar value of exports is
not yet up to the mark of 2000 and 2001.
Against the export value of US$ 9.79 million in
February last year, exports during the second month of 2003 touched US$ 16.87 million.
Exports in the like period of 2000 and 2001 were, however, worth US$ 13.35 million and US$
17.3 million respectively.
In the last seven months, garment exports to the
US increased in the range of 33 to 72 per cent as compared to the exports of the
corresponding months a year ago. Despite such increments in the last five months of 2002,
the total garment exports to the US, negated by whopping declines in the first seven
months, had declined by 22 per cent.
The cumulative exports of readymade garments
from Nepal to the US in the last seven months stood at US$ 86.61 million, which is over 54
per cent higher than the exports to the US in the like period a year back. The seven-month
cumulative exports then stood at US$ 56.24 million, against the export of US$ 94.09
million in the like period of the previous year.
Likewise, despite the small size of the market,
garment exports continued to enjoy a positive and high growth rate even in Canada.
Readymade garments worth US$ 113 thousand was exported in February, which is a cent per
cent increment as compared to the exports of the same period last year.
The garment industry that still ranks as the
highest foreign exchange earning sector of the country has been passing through rough
period since the US decided to grant duty- and quota-free market access to garments
manufactured by Caribbean and sub-Saharan African countries.
Entrepreneurs are hopeful that the US would
consider the disastrous socio-economic impact that the fall out of the garment industry
would have on employment income levels, and grant the same concessions that it is
providing to the African and Caribbean countries.
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