Readymade garments account for 83.2% of total exports to Korea, which saw a 25.8% year-on-year increase in 2022
The bilateral trade volume between Korea and Bangladesh reached another record high in 2022 exceeding $3 billion.
According to the statistics of Korea International Trade Association, the bilateral trade volume in 2022 recorded $3.035 billion, a 38.71% increase from the previous year’s $2.188 billion, reads a press release issued on Wednesday.
Bangladesh’s exports to Korea increased by 22.9% to $678 million in 2022 from $552 million in the previous year, while Korea’s exports to Bangladesh rose by 44.1% to $2.357 billion in 2022 from $1.636 billion in 2021.
Exports to Korea continuously increased after crossing $100 million for the first time in 2007 and reaching $200 million in 2011 and $300 million in 2013.
But it remained stagnant for about a decade and shrank by 2.9% in 2020 recording $393 million due to the adverse impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic.
However, it witnessed a big rebound in 2021 to $552 million with a sharp year-on-year increase of 40.4% and recorded another record high of $678 million in 2022 with a 22.9% year-on-year rise.
The main export items of Bangladesh to Korea are RMG, sports and leisure items and bronze scraps, etc.
RMG which accounts for 83.2% of total exports to Korea recorded $564 million in 2022, increasing 25.8% year-on-year, while paper products and food skyrocketed by 168.6% and 165% to $3.6 million and $3.1 million, respectively.
Exports of bronze scrap rose by 41.8% to $17.76 million.
Korea’s exports to Bangladesh, which peaked at $1.63 million in 2011, fell sharply and hovered at $1.2 billion for almost one decade.
During the Covid-19 pandemic, it further deepened to $1.03 billion in 2020. After a decade of stagnation, it finally rebounded to $1.636 billion in 2021, increasing 58.3% year-on-year and to $2.357 billion in 2022 with a 44.1% year-on-year increase.
However, the increase in Korea’s exports to Bangladesh in 2021 and 2022 was mainly led by the hike in Bangladesh’s imports of diesel from Korea which rose by 703.8% to $972 million in 2022.
Korea’s exports of diesel to Bangladesh rose by 450% in 2021 to $121 million. Other major export items of Korea to Bangladesh are machinery, petrochemical product, steel and pesticides, and they all saw a decrease in 2022.
It appears to be mainly due to the import restrictions imposed by Bangladesh due to the foreign reserves situation in the country in the aftermath of the Ukraine-Russian war, said the press release.
Korean Ambassador to Bangladesh Lee Jang-keun said the year 2023, which marks the 50th anniversary of diplomatic ties between Korea and Bangladesh, will be a momentous turning point in the bilateral ties between the two countries, overcoming the challenges of the Covid-19 pandemic and global economic challenges stemming from the Russian-Ukraine war.
He also hoped that the Bangladesh business sector will take advantage of the preferential trade policy of Korea which has been providing duty- and quota-free access to the Korean market for 95 % of Bangladesh products since 2008.
Exports to Korea, a non-traditional market, will also be given the benefit of receiving at least 4% cash incentives from the Bangladesh government.
