Bangladesh’s readymade garment exports to the United States in January-November of 2023 declined by 24.91 per cent in value and 28.63 per cent in volume as the overall demand for apparel decreased in the market due to the ongoing economic slowdown.
The country’s apparel export to the US in the first 11 months of 2023 fell to $6.79 billion compared with that of $9.04 billion in the same period of 2022, according to the US Department of Commerce’s Office of Textiles and Apparel data released on Tuesday.
In terms of value, apparel imports by the US from Bangladesh in January-November of 2023 fell to 2.09 billion square metres compared with those of 2.93 billion square metres in the same period of 2022.
Exporters said that the global consumption of apparel decreased in 2023 due to high inflation in Western countries.
They said that the RMG imports by the US decreased from all sourcing countries and Bangladesh was trying to remain competitive in the market amid global economic uncertainties.
They hoped that the apparel export would rebound in the Western market in the coming months as inflation started to ease and the authorities of the US and the European Union was thinking to decrease the interest rate.
The apparel import by the US from Bangladesh in November of 2023 declined by 27.39 per cent to $433.70 million year-on-year compared with those of $597.33 million in the same month of 2022.
According to the OTEXA data, of the 11 months in 2023, Bangladesh’s RMG export to the US, the largest export destination for the country, registered negative growth in all the months except January and July.
The imports of RMG by the US globally in the first 11 months of 2023 declined by 22.40 per cent to $72.40 billion compared with those of $93.31billion in the same period of 2022.
Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association president Faruque Hassan said that the US apparel imports decreased not only from Bangladesh, but also from the other countries, as high inflation and high interest rate affected the buying power of the US consumers.
‘The global market size of apparel shrank in 2023 and the exports of all manufacturing countries decreased. I hope that the demand for clothing would increase in 2024 as inflation has started easing in the European Union and the US,’ he said.
According to the US data, Bangladesh’s position remained unchanged as the third-largest apparel exporter in the US market with 9.47 per cent share in January-November of 2023 while China and Vietnam occupied the first and the second highest positions with 20.83 per cent and 18.21 per cent share respectively.
The import of apparel by the US from China in 11 months of 2023 fell by 25.45 per cent to $15.22 billion compared with that of $20.52 billion in the same period of 2022.
The RMG import by the US from Vietnam in January-November of 2023 decreased by 22.68 per cent to $13.17 billion compared with that of $17.04 billion in same period of the past year.
The OTEXA data showed that India’s RMG export to the US market in the first 11 months of 2023 fell by 21.53 per cent to $4.18 billion compared with that of $5.33 billion in the same period of the previous year.
The RMG import by the US from Indonesia in January-November of 2023 decreased by 25.72 per cent to $3.91 billion while the import from Cambodia fell by 24.69 per cent to $3.78 billion in the period, the data showed.
New Age
