Bangladesh’s readymade garment exports to the United States in January-September of 2023 declined by 23.33 per cent to $5.78 billion compared with those of $7.54 billion in the same period of 2022, as slow demand for apparel products continued due to high inflation in the US.
The country’s apparel extorts to the US in September 2023 fell by 34.71 per cent to $594.76 million year-on-year compared with those of $911.07 million in the same month of 2022, according to the US Department of Commerce’s Office of Textiles and Apparel data released on Tuesday.
Of the first nine months of 2023, Bangladesh’s RMG exports to the US registered negative growth in seven months except January and July.
Exporters said that the overall import of the US declined due to the economic slowdown caused by the Russia-Ukraine war and the situation might prevail three to four more months.
The OTEXA data showed that the total US imports of readymade garments from different countries in the nine months of 2023 declined by 22.81 per cent to $60.82 billion compared with those of $78.80 billion in the same period of 2022.
Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association president Faruque Hassan told New Age that the global market of apparel shrank due to depressed sales and demand caused by Russia-Ukraine war.
He said that to curb inflation caused by the war, western economies increased bank interest rates, which were limiting the purchasing power of consumers and demand for goods.
The US data, however, showed that Bangladesh’s position remained unchanged as the third-largest apparel exporter in the US market with 9.73 per cent share in January-September of 2023 while China and Vietnam occupied the first and the second highest positions with 20.47 per cent and 17.98 per cent share respectively.
The import of apparel by the US from China in January-September of 2023 fell by 28.12 per cent to $ 12.75 billion compared with that of $17.74 billion in the same period of 2022.
RMG imports by the US from Vietnam in the nine months of 2023 decreased by 24.13 per cent to $11.06 billion compared with those of $14.59 billion in same period of the past year.
The OTEXA data showed that India’s RMG exports to the US market in January-September of 2023 fell by 21.91 per cent to $3.62 billion compared with those of $4.64 billion in the same period of the previous year.
RMG imports by the US from Indonesia in the first nine months of 2023 decreased by 25.60 per cent to $3.30 billion while the imports from Cambodia fell by 26.09 per cent to $2.59 billion in the period, the data showed.
Bangladesh Knitwear Manufacturers and Exporters Association vice-president Fazlee Shamim Ehsan said that high inflation was the only cause of declining exports to the US market.
Due to the Russia-Ukraine war, inflation climbed a historic high in the US and the European Union and consumers decreased their spending in buying apparel, he said.
