The export of readymade garments, one of the largest foreign currency earners of the Eastern Region, has dropped by around 48 percent during the first six months of this fiscal year, according to newspaper reports.

The latest data of Trade Promotion Center (TPC), Eastern Region shows that readymade garments worth Rs 1.13 billion were exported during that period, down from the export of Rs 2.19 billion in the review period of last year.

With a decline in exports, local industries are facing serious challenges for their survival. Around a dozen industries have downed shutters while four dozen more have reduced production by 50 percent due to lack of access to market, the Kathmandu Post quoted entrepreneurs as saying.

An entrepreneur said the industries in the Eastern Region have a capacity to produce 50 million unit pieces of readymade garments annually, but the actual production is just 20 million unit pieces.

Report quoted Dilip Kumar Aryal, manager at the TPC, as saying that if the government does not take initiatives to explore international markets for readymade garments, the existing industries will be pushed to the brink of closure.

The export of readymade garments decreased by 41 percent in 2005, following the termination of quota free access to Nepalese readymade garments from 1 January 2005.

Likewise, the downward move of the export of Nepalese readymade garments continues in 2006 as well recording a fall of 8 percent in the month of January.