The global economic crisis has favoured apparel exports from some of the world’s poorest nations but stunted the growth of others, according to a UN report.

Least developed countries (LDC’s) including Bangladesh and Haiti have expanded exports while Cambodia lost out as higher costs hit value and volume of both knit and non-knit apparel shipments. During the first nine months of 2009, knit and non-knit apparel accounted for $12.2bn in export revenues for LCDs overall, down just 1% from the prior year period.

During the same period of review, notes the report by the Geneva-based International Trade Centre, knit apparel exports declined in volume terms by 0.72% and non-knit by 1.25% for the regions. Furthermore, unit prices for LDC apparel exports grew by 0.9% for knit and by 3.5% for non-knit, the ITC said, despite the global fall in wool prices by 15.5% and the price of cotton by 22%.

In 2008, the top five LDC exporters – Bangladesh, Cambodia, Madagascar, Haiti, and Myanmar – accounted for 92% exports in the sector with Bangladesh having a 66.4% share and Cambodia, with 20.9%, accounting for the bulk of the shipments. In the first nine-months of 2009, Bangladesh’s exports of knit apparel were up 5% on the same period in 2008, with volume up 3.1% and Germany the top destination with a 23.8% share, the ITC said.

Similarly, for non-knit the value of Bangladesh’s exports reached $3.8bn, up 6.6%, while volume expanded by 3.3%, with the US its top market with 48.1% share. However, during the same period Cambodia posted doubled digit declines in both the value and volume in both categories, it said.

The value of Cambodia’s knit exports declined by 17% to $1.8bn, while the value of its non-knit exports also declined, by 30%. The US remained Cambodia’s top export market.

Bangladesh, with the lowest labour costs in the apparel industry - estimated in 2009 at $0.7 per day compared to $1.7 in Cambodia — increased its exports to the US by 2% during the period while those from Cambodia declined by 24%, the ITC estimates. Increasing electricity and oil costs, among other inputs, relative to competitors, are singled out as contributing to Cambodia’s loss of market share.

Finally, the report notes that Haiti, thanks largely to its preferential access to the US market, posted a 22.4% increase in the value of knit exports and 29.7% increase in non-knit apparel in the first nine month of 2009.

Source: http://www.aepcindia.com/international.asp?id=211&yr=2010