The European Union (EU) imported $86.74 billion worth of apparel from various countries around the world in the first 10 months (January-October) of 2022, with a year-on-year growth of 24.41 percent. At the same time, the EU imported apparel worth $19.40 billion from Bangladesh. This is according to the latest data released by the European statistics agency Eurostat.
Bangladesh is the second largest source of EU apparel imports. Compared to the period of January-October 2021, the import of clothes from Bangladesh in the same period last year increased by 41.76 percent. However, China remains the largest apparel supplier to the EU with a 29.39 percent share.
In the first 10 months of 2022, EU apparel imports from China reached $25.49 billion, a year-on-year growth of 22.43 percent. At the same time, imports from Turkey also increased by 12.82 percent year-on-year. EU imports from Turkey also stood at $10.12 billion. Imports from India reached $4.24 billion, a year-on-year growth of 23.46 percent.
Among other top garment suppliers, EU imports from Cambodia, Vietnam, Pakistan, Morocco, Sri Lanka and Indonesia increased by 39.69 percent 33.05 percent, 28.55 percent, 9.59 percent, 18 percent and 31.76 percent respectively.
The impact of the Russia-Ukraine war following the global pandemic coronavirus and the fuel crisis has caused a slowdown in trade and import-export, which has also affected Bangladesh’s garment sector. But even then, the value of apparel made in Bangladesh did not decrease in the US or European markets. Rather, new markets are constantly growing for clothes made in Bangladesh around the world.
