Garment export to US double in five years

Dhaka: Garment shipment to the USA, the single largest export destination of Bangladesh, almost doubled in the last five years, owing to the tariff war between America and China and the presence of competitive prices of the locally made apparels.

After having two strong years in 2021 and 2022, apparel export to the USA fell 8.68 per cent year-on-year to USD 8.27 billion in 2023, according to data from the Export Promotion Bureau and the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA).

Bangladeshi manufacturers sent USD 5.84 billion worth of garments to the USA in 2018 and over USD 9 billion in 2022, but it fell in 2023, caused solely by a dip in woven garment shipment. However, knitwear export saw a marginal jump in 2023 compared to 2022.

Readymade garment export to the European Union (EU) slowed to a great extent in 2023, posting a meagre year-on-year growth of 1.49 per cent down from 2022's 28.49 per cent.

Apparel export to the EU was USD 23.38 billion in 2023 from 2022’s USD 23 billion. Bangladesh shipped USD 6.1 billion worth of garments to Germany in 2023, down from USD 7.29 billion in 2022. Among other EU countries, Lithuania, Malta, Slovakia and Slovenia also experienced a negative year-on-year growth.

Conversely, the positive performance was maintained in a few EU markets, particularly in Denmark, France, Italy, Spain and the Netherlands where it rose by 16.21 per cent, 8.46 per cent, 10.52 per cent, 12.69 per cent and 13.27 per cent respectively.

Meanwhile, UK, the third largest export destination for Bangladesh, managed to retain a year-on-year growth of 12.46 per cent in 2023 by shipping USD 5.34 billion RMG in 2023 compared to USD 4.75 billion in 2022.

Additionally, Bangladesh's export to non-traditional markets demonstrated encouraging growth, increasing remarkably by 20.54 per cent to USD 8.87 billion in 2023. Currently, the clothing export share to the non-traditional markets stands at 18.72 per cent, from 16.52 per cent in 2018.

Notably, Japan is Bangladesh's top destination among major non-traditional markets, fetching USD 1.68 billion in the mentioned period, posting a 26.53 per cent year-on-year growth. Exports to other non-traditional markets, including Australia, Russia, New Zealand, Saudi Arabia, South Korea and China, also posted positive growths.

In 2023, Bangladesh's RMG export to the world increased 3.67 per cent year-on-year to USD 47.39 billion. The six years' data compiled by the BGMEA shows that Bangladesh shipped USD 32.93 billion garments in 2018, posting a 12.71 per cent growth.

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