Bangladesh’s export earnings from the United Kingdom in 11 months of the current financial year grew by 19.10 per cent to $3.44 billion from $2.89 billion in the same period of the financial year 2014-15 due to an encouraging performance of the readymade garment sector.

Besides, Japan has already appeared as an emerging market for Bangladesh and the earnings from the market in the July-May period of FY16 stood at $981.92 million with a 17.12-per cent increase from $838.34 million in FY15, according to the Export Promotion Bureau (EPB) data released recently.

Both the markets have shifted their procurement orders to Bangladesh from China due to price competitiveness and they hoped that export growth in the destinations would increase further in the coming days, experts and exporters.

Moreover, Britain is a cosmopolitan nation and the huge number of tourists in the country is the buyers of garments and they want middle and lower-end products. The UK is shifting their procurement orders to Bangladesh from China as the world’s second biggest economy is shifting its production to high-end and high-tech, according to Anwar-ul Alam Chowdhury Parvez, a former president of Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA).

He said that Vietnam could be the China plus country (import source alternative to China) for the UK but Vietnam shifted its production to high value-added products and Bangladesh gained the market share previously held by China in the UK.