Nepali garment exports decline 30.7% in Q1

Hit by sluggish demand from key markets like the EU and the US, which continue to face financial woes, Nepal’s readymade garment exports during the first quarter of current Nepali fiscal year that began on July 16, 2012, dipped by 30.7 percent over the same period last year.

 

According to Trade and Export Promotion Centre (TEPC), the Government trade data compilation agency, Nepal exported 2.86 million apparel pieces worth Np Rs. 1.04 billion during the three-month period compared to exports of 4.54 million units of apparels worth Rs. 1.5 billion achieved during the corresponding period of last year.

 

Garment Association of Nepal, the apex body of garment producers and exporters in Nepal, attributed the decline in apparel exports to the economic slowdown in western countries.

 

Last fiscal, Nepal exported apparels worth Rs. 4.05 billion, down 0.6 percent year-on-year, which was considerably less than the record Rs. 12 billion worth of garment exports made in 1999-2000.

 

The sharp decline in Nepali garment exports began after the country lost its duty-free and quota-free access to the US market in 2004.

 

Source: Fibre2fashion