A Vietnamese news portal, Voice of Vietnam (VOV) claims that Vietnam has surpassed Bangladesh to become the world’s second-largest apparel and textile exporter, ranking only behind China.
The Vietnamese news outlet cited Hoang Manh Cam, spokesperson for the Vietnam National Textile and Garment Group (Vinatex), one of the largest Vietnamese textile companies, who briefed the Vietnamese journalists on Wednesday.
He said that the Vietnamese textile and garment industry seized a significant number of orders shifting from Bangladesh in 2024, contributing to the industry’s revenue milestone of $44 billion, representing 11%, while Bangladesh, Vietnam’s most potent rival recorded a 3.7% decline in textile and garment exports in 10 months to only $27.7 billion.
However, the RMG manufacturers of Bangladesh refuted Cam’s statement, saying Vietnam includes apparel and textiles as a single product in its overall export earnings, while Bangladesh separates apparel, home textiles, and textiles into three different products. So, Vinatex’s data does not represent authentic data.
Moreover, Vinatex is not a government entity; it is a private RMG and textile manufacturer, so their data can not be regarded as official data.
What does official data say?
Meanwhile, the data presented by Vinatex even contradicts the official export data of the General Statistics Office (GSO), the government’s official statistics organization of Vietnam.
According to the GSO, Vietnam earned $30.57 billion from exporting textile and apparel items in the first ten months of 2024 (January-October), meaning lone income from apparel or sewing products was indeed below $30 billion.
However, Vinatex reported that Vietnam earned $44 billion in January-October 2024.
According to World Trade Organization data, in 2023, the Southeast Asian country earned $33.32 billion from its global destinations by exporting textile and sewing products, while earnings from apparel or sewing products were $31 billion.
On the other hand, Bangladesh earned $31.41 billion by exporting only apparel items in the January-October period of 2024, while Vinatex said the world’s second-largest exporter earned $27.7 billion, which the apparel manufacturers turned down.
Only WTO’s data is reliable
Bangladeshi apparel manufacturers said they only rely on the official data published by the World Trade Organization (WTO) regarding global trade. WTO usually publishes global trade data titled “World Trade Statistics: Key Insights and Trends” in August of every year.
Talking to Dhaka Tribune, Mohiuddin Rubel, former director of Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA), said they only rely on WTO data.
“Vietnam’s exports will always be higher than ours as they include all types of textile products along with apparel. We categorize apparel as a single product. Our earnings will once again supersede Vietnam if we include earnings from home textile and textile sector along with apparel,” he added.
He also said that Bangladesh will officially be the world’s second-largest apparel exporter until the publication of the WTO data on 2024 trade trends in August 2025, and they are working hard to retain the position.
WTO Data 2023
In the first week of August of this year, the WTO published its “World Trade Statistics 2023: Key Insights and Trends,” which showed that Bangladesh has maintained its position as the world’s second-largest apparel exporter and exported apparel items worth $38 billion to its global destinations.
In 2023, Bangladesh’s global apparel market share was 7.4%.
In the same year, Vietnam, Bangladesh’s arch-rival in RMG exports, secured third position with a market share of 6% and exported apparel items worth $31 billion.
Among the major RMG exporters, China remains the largest exporter of RMG products in the global market, with a 31.6% market share. The country exported RMG goods worth $165 billion in 2023.
Meanwhile, the VInatex spokesperson also said that despite having a product range and geographical advantage similar to Bangladesh, India benefited the most from the trend of orders shifting away from Bangladesh in the past year.
Other leading exporters, such as Sri Lanka and Turkey, also benefited from the shift in orders from Bangladesh.
However, Cam warned that these results may only last for a certain period, noting that Bangladesh’s exports have been recovering market share in September and October. Therefore, there is a possibility that Bangladesh will soon recover its textile exports, and competition will return.
The garment industry is expected to continue the momentum from the end of 2024 and see some positive growth signals in the first half of 2025 as key markets such as the US and the EU recover economically.
