RMG and It's Beginning: 1950 was the beginning of RMG in the Western world. In order to control the level of imported RMG products from developing countries into developed countries, the Multi Fiber Agreement (MFA) was made in 1974. The MFA agreement imposed an export rate 6 percent increase every year from a developing country to a developed country. In the early 1980s Bangladesh started receiving investment in the RMG sector. Some Bangladeshis In 1978, 130 trainees was sent to South Korea where they learned how to produce ready made garments.  They received free training from the Korean Company Daewoo. After these workers came back to Bangladesh, many of them broke ties with the factory they were working for and started their own.

Present situation: In the 1980s, there were only 50 factories employing only a few thousand people. Currently, there are more than 5000 manufacturing units. The RMG sector contributes around 81% percent to the total export earnings. In 2013-14 it earned over $24.49bn of exports in the last financial year. This sector also contributes around 13 percent to the GDP, which was only around 3 percent in 1991. Of the estimated 4.2 million people employed in this sector, about 50 percent of them are women from rural areas. In 2000, the industry consisting of some 3000 factories employed directly more than 1.5 million workers of whom almost 80% were female. USA is the largest importer of Bangladeshi RMG products, followed by Germany, UK, France and other E.Ucountries.

The government may set the current fiscal year’s export target at $32.8bn with a 5.13% growth amid economic slowdown in destination countries. The target in the FY2014-15 was $32.2bn and Bangladesh earned $31.19bn with 3.35% growth from the previous fiscal.  “As per the EPB recommendation, $32.8bn will be the export target for the fiscal year 2015-16 with 5.13% growth.  The growth target for woven sector would be set at 6.53%, knitwear 4.94%, leather 5% and plastic 11%.

Future: According to the study, the US-based fashion companies are expected to boost their sourcing from Bangladesh in the next two years. McKinsey, a global management consulting firm, described Bangladesh as the next hot spot in apparel sourcing. The renowned firm forecasts export-value growth of 7-9% annually and our apparel export will double by 2015 and nearly triple by 2020 provided that we can successfully overcome a few challenges including developing infrastructure and skill workforce.