Bangladesh’s apparel exports to the United States grew by 2.13 per cent during the first four months of 2020 calendar year, compared to the same period of last year.

The country fetched US$2.07 billion from apparel exports to the US market from January to April of 2020 against $2.03 billion earnings of the corresponding period of 2019, according to data of Office of Textiles and Apparel (OTEXA) affiliated with the US Department of Commerce.

During January-April period of this calendar year, Bangladesh shipped 748 million square metres of apparel items, which was 728.21 million square metres in the same period of last year.

The US imported textile and apparel items worth $2.14 billion from Bangladesh from January to April of 2020, it showed.

After the Rana Plaza building collapse in 2013, Bangladesh’s apparel exports to the US declined to $4.83 billion in 2014, which was $4.95 billion in 2013. In 2015, exports grew to $5.40 billion, but declined in next two consecutive years.

Apparel exports to the US started increasing again from 2018, and the country earned $5.93 billion from apparel exports to the US in 2019, according to OTEXA data.

On the other hand, Chinese apparel exports to the US witnessed a negative growth of 46.44 per cent to $3.88 billion in the first four months of this year. China shipped apparel items worth $7.26 billion to the US during January-April period of 2019.

Meanwhile, the garment exports of Vietnam also declined by 1.31 per cent to $4.18 billion, and India witnessed 13.07 per cent fall to $1.36 billion during the same period of 2020.

Fazlul Hoque, former president of Bangladesh Knitwear Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BKMEA), said the OTEXA data reflects the shipments that Bangladesh made from December 2019 to March 2020 period.

The growth indicates that Bangladesh was doing well compared to its competitors before the lockdown, imposed due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

He added that the future (of local exports to the US) is uncertain. However, the improving employment situation in the US gives a good indication that their consumers might spend more money for clothing.

When asked, Khondaker Golam Moazzem, additional research director of Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD), said there is a time gap between shipments sent and received.

He also echoed the BKMEA leader that the shipments from Bangladesh were sent to the US from December to March.

Regarding the negative growth of China and Vietnam, he said both the countries enforced lockdown earlier (than Bangladesh) that halted their shipments, and its impacts are shown in their Jan-April export data.

Both of them opined that production in Bangladeshi units was almost suspended in April. Its impact might be reflected in the data of coming months, when the competitor countries might start reviving.

Munni_fe@yahoo.com