DHAKA: Bangladesh should focus on the growing Asian apparel market, where the retail value of garment and textile consumption in just India and China will more than double to $750 billion by 2020, from approximately $300 billion at present, said a Swiss textile expert. The Asian garment and textile sector has been growing fast and will continue to do so in the next four years, said Christian P Schindler, director general of Switzerland-based International Textile Manufacturers Federation or ITMF.
Schindler was in Dhaka to discuss the global textile and garment industry with Bangladeshi spinners and weavers on Sunday. “The garment retail markets of Asia, particularly China and India, will increase as well as the western markets,” Schindler said. Currently, about 80 percent of China’s garment products are produced for its local consumption. The remaining export-focused 20 percent of Chinese garment products make up about 40 percent of global apparel trade, worth nearly $200 billion. This makes China the leading supplier of the item in the world, followed by Bangladesh.
