Bangladesh's knitwear exports to the United States are expected to total $1.0 billion in 2005-06 (July-June) fiscal year, a top industrialist said on Sunday. "We are enjoying an export boom in the US market in the quota-free era that has opened up a whole new world of trade to us that remained virtually unexplored previously," said Fazlul Haque, president of Bangladesh Knitwear Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BKMEA).
In the first six months after the quota system was abolished from January, Bangladesh's knitwear exports to the US market more than doubled to $434.9 million from $201.34 million in the same period of 2004, he told Reuters.
"If we can maintain the present trend, we will be able to achieve our target of $1.0 billion knitwear exports to America during this fiscal year," Haque added.
Bangladesh's share in the $16 billion-dollar US knitwear market was less than three percent before the quota-free regime, Haque said.
"Now the sky is all open to us," he said, adding that BKMEA would organise a three-day trade show in New York from November 14 next to display its products and explore the market.
Ready made garments - including knit and woven wears - are Bangladesh's biggest export.
Sales abroad fetched the country a total of $6.42 billion in the year to June 2005, commerce officials said.
In the same year, Bangladesh's knitwear exports totalled $2.82 billion, compared to $2.15 billion a year earlier.