It is a piece of good news that Bangladeshi garment exporters, after facing a long downward trend, will have a positive market scenario in the US for the first time after Rana Plaza collapse and Tazreen Fashions fire in 2013. This has boosted morale of Bangladeshi garment manufacturers. The total exports to the US increased by about 2.98 per cent in FY 2014-2015. The US clothing fashion industry association has said the American market now offers both opportunities and problems for Bangladesh. In 2015, in order to make US fashion industry benchmarking study, the textile and clothing sector in various brands, importers, wholesale and retail merchants in the US were interviewed. It was found that the US is the biggest market for woven products and is still leading with US$ 2.9 billion products in July-March period of 2013-2014 year. In spite of the GSP issues, the US knitwear market is also growing at a moderate rate. Bangladesh is still popular with US consumers as a source of readymade garments. Forty-two per cent of the respondents taking part in the study said they will increase in the next two years the volume of purchase of garments from Bangladesh. However, due to political unrest this year, the volume of imports declined slightly. Garment entrepreneurs said the apparel manufacturing industry in the country lagged behind due to political unrest this year. Some factories are already closed down due to factory inspection by Accord and Alliance. At the same time, structural problems in the RMG industry are coming to the new factories. This is not expected to improve soon. Meanwhile, US consumers’ top choice is still China as a source of clothing imports. Some Asian countries, including Bangladesh, will, however, be an alternative in the next two to five years, American consumers said. According to US buyers, Bangladesh’s garment sector is a major competitor against Vietnam. Regarding the future of the clothing business in the next five years, most of the US businesses have a positive attitude. According to a recent study, 89 per cent say RMG business has a bright future while 43 per cent feel that higher production cost or the cost of outsourcing is the major challenge that the business is going to face. Ninety per cent opine that the business operating expense is going to increase with less profit. The garment import growth in the US is positive and Vietnam recorded the fastest pace of export growth at 24 per cent. If the political situation were normal in Bangladesh, the country’s export figure could have been better.
