Bangladesh, an emerging economy in export and import

Global economics students are familiar with the specific terms that define the economic powers that influence trade and industry beyond their borders. The Asian Tigers, for example, are the four highly developed countries (Hong Kong, Singapore, South Korea and Taiwan) that concentrate a good percentage of market exports throughout the planet. Whether these nations will stay on top is up for debate, but as Goldman Sachs implies, those included in the Next Eleven group may prove competitive in the future. One of those countries is Bangladesh.

Your first thought of Bangladesh might be Third World. In the 1970s, the country, formerly known as East Pakistan, was ravaged by civil war and extreme weather conditions. The plight of its people motivated musicians George Harrison and Ravi Shankar to organize a benefit concert to raise money for the aid, the first charity event of its kind, years before Live Aid. Today, while Bangladesh maintains its rank among nations with high levels of poverty, it is slowly developing an economy that has shown impressive growth over the years.

One might think, given the alleged scarcity of natural resources and industry in the country, that Bangladesh does not offer much in the way of goods to export. Quite the contrary, although this neighbor of India does not enjoy the same level of GNP as the United States or nearby Asian nations, Bangladesh in 2009 exported more than $18 billion worth of supplies a year, a significant growth of $5 billion. seven years before. With the United States as the main customer (with almost a third of the total product), Bangladesh is known mainly for these products:

Textiles and clothing: Proving its place among the Next Eleven, Bangladesh has made a huge mark in the textile export industry. Garment exports, the country’s main industry, surpassed those of India for the first time in 2009, accounting for one eighth of the country’s total export product.

Leather Materials:Skins used for clothing and other products are a popular commodity to trade and are usually included in totals for textile and clothing exports.

Jute:; Jute is a specific vegetable fiber, similar to hemp and flax, used in the manufacture of textiles. Originally from the region, jute is used in the production of coarser fabrics such as burlap.

Shellfish and Fish Byproducts: The recent problems with the oil spill in the Gulf have certainly boosted Bangladesh’s role in the seafood trade. Always a popular export, fish and shellfish by-products are regularly shipped to the United States and Europe.

Ceramics:Ceramics for decorative and practical purposes are created and marketed throughout the world.

Domestically, Bangladesh relies on rice production to keep the economy strong. Other imported items, mainly from neighboring China, India and Singapore, help stimulate various industries. These include:

Crude Oil and Petroleum: What Bangladesh lacks in natural resources for production, its trading neighbors provide to enable smooth operations.

Cotton: Perhaps the most important element of the textile industry, the cotton imported into Bangladesh becomes the clothing that is exported around the world.

Meal: Although two-thirds of the country’s workers have jobs in agriculture, Bangladesh relies on imports for its food supply.

machinery: Equipment for refining rice and textiles are especially needed and are provided by the more developed countries.

Rails: For domestic manufacturing, Bangladesh trades with metal-rich nations to achieve these goals.

Cheap labor and a growing GNP have helped Bangladesh achieve a place in the Next Eleven. This is certainly a country to watch over the next decade to see if its exponential growth will continue and impact neighboring nations.