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NEPAL: Garment exports suffer from end of textile quotas

KATHMANDU: The end of textile and clothing quotas from January last year has hit Nepal the hardest. Nepali textile exports plummeted over 20 percent, a report reaching here on May 26 said.

The value and volume of the exports declined 22 and 28 percent, respectively, in 2005.

Losses in the United States market were more severe than in the European Union market. Nepal is other big textile and clothing customer.

Among knitted ready-made garments from Nepal, the value of US imports plunged more than half. Some 55 percent – of woven garments lost 30 percent of the market.

The two markets together represent the destinations of nearly all of Nepal's textile and clothing exports.

Increasing price competition, closures of factories, job losses and deterioration of workers' conditions have been reported in countries like Nepal.

Nepal lost export orders as well as in countries that managed to keep their export volume.

Nepal needs to diversify its exportable products as well as markets.

Carpets represent the top Nepali export commodity in both the U. S. and the EU. But three out of Nepal's top five commodities are those that face more competition after the elimination of quotas because they are produced by other countries in the region.

Nepal is pushed out of competition at the initial stage with this kind of competition.

Source: Agencies • News Courtesy: BharatTextile.com