Bangladesh sees India, not China, as competitive threat

The Bangladesh Knitwear Manufacturers and Exporters Association said the country would see a 50% gain in export volume in '05 with the removal of quotas and said India, not China, would be the country's principal competitive threat. Association President Fazlul Huq, according to a report in Dacca's New Nation newspaper, said export sales would be more than US$3bn in the FY 2004-05, explaining that US buyers were showing growing interest in Bangladeshi product. He said India would be the sector's main competitor because, compared to China, India was a major cotton producer. Noting that international agencies had projected that up to 80% of Bangladesh's garment companies would close, dislodging upwards of 800,000 workers with the ending of quotas, he said: "We can say that no factory will shut down and none will lose jobs." The trade group head, in fact, predicted more investment would pour into the sector.