The market share of Bangladesh also rose to 9.3% in the US from 8.76%
Bangladesh maintains the growth in readymade garment (RMG) export to the United States in the first five months of 2022, as well as in the overall last fiscal year 2021-22.
According to the Export Promotion Bureau (EPB), the US remained the top apparel export destination for Bangladesh in the last fiscal with an export earning worth $9.01 billion, registering a 51.57% growth compared to the last fiscal.
In the last fiscal year, Bangladesh exported apparel items worth $5.94 billion, EPB data also stated.
In the meantime, Bangladesh also maintained its great start in exporting apparel items to the US market in the calendar year 2022.
In the first five months (January-May) of the current calendar year, Bangladeshi exporters shipped apparel items worth $4.11 billion to their biggest single destination fetching a growth of 59.06%, according to recent data from the Commerce Department’s Office of Textiles and Apparel (Otexa).
According to the Otexa data, Bangladesh exported apparel items worth $2.58 billion at the same time.
The market share of Bangladesh also rose to 9.3% in the US from 8.76% while China and Vietnam are ahead of Bangladesh with market shares of 23.64% and 17.43%, respectively.
However, the US apparel imports reached $40.93 billion in January to May, noting a 40.11% year-on-year surge, said the Otexa data.
Talking to Dhaka Tribune, Shahidullah Azim, vice-president of the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA), said that Bangladeshi clothing always had a good position in the US market and the entrepreneurs are working hard to sustain this trend of export growth.
“The US market showed a strong rebound and created additional demand for the apparel products as they have overcome the shock of the pandemic and their market has returned to normalcy,” he added.
However, due to the Russia-Ukraine war, inflation in the country has risen sharply and that is why the sales of clothes in the outlets of the brands have declined noticeably, he added.
“In recent times, big buyers like Walmart and Gap are reducing their purchase orders of apparel items. The product that is being exported now is based on the orders placed in October and November,” he added.
As of now, it seems that sustaining the number of apparel items exported to the US in the last fiscal year and at the beginning of this calendar year will be challenging and the intensity of the challenge will be understood later this year, he added.
Forced labour issue
Regarding US sanctions on the Chinese forced-labour issue, he said that the US buyers told them not to buy cotton and cotton-made raw materials from China as there is an issue of forced labour.
“Although we usually do not import cotton from China, we import a lot of fabrics from them,” he added.
He also called this a diplomatic issue and said they had no role to play there.
“The Foreign Affairs Ministry will take steps to resolve this diplomatically. It is the responsibility of the government to resolve this issue,” he added.
Regarding the overall apparel export in FY22, BGMEA Director Mohiuddin Rubel said that even though the overall export in the major markets has shown a positive growth trend, trade dynamics will see a sharp shift in the coming days in the post-Covid world and amid geopolitical tension created by the Russia-Ukraine conflict.
“The ongoing recession foreshadows a depressing outlook for the global economy in the future which is concerning for us. Thus, we should not be overwhelmed, rather need to be cautiously optimistic,” he added.
Apart from the US, the export to the European Union, the largest apparel importer in the world and the largest destination for Bangladesh, increased by 33.87% to $21.04 billion in FY22 from $15.99 billion in FY21.
Germany, the largest apparel export market for Bangladesh in the EU region, showed 27.74% year-on-year growth to $7.16 billion, according to the EPB data.
Moreover, exports to other major EU markets such as Spain, France, Italy, Poland, and Netherland have shown strong positive growth whereas exports to the UK and Canada also grew by 30.56% and 33.22%, respectively.
At the same time, the year-on-year comparison shows that export to the non-traditional markets increased by 25.40% in FY22 to 6.37 billion.
According to the EPB data, Bangladesh bagged $52.08 billion through exports in the fiscal year 2021-22, registering a 34.38% year-on-year growth from $38.75 billion from export earnings in FY21 where the country’s export earnings crossed the milestone of $50 billion for the first time in history.
