Bangladesh 3rd largest apparel source for the US in 2022: BGMEA

Bangladesh remains the third largest apparel source for the United States in 2022 with a 9.75% share of its total apparel import, which was 8.76% in 2021, said BGMEA President Faruque Hassan in a recent letter to its members and colleagues.

In 2022, US's clothing import from Bangladesh grew by 36.38% year-over-year. The US imported $9.74 billion worth of apparel from Bangladesh in 2022 which was $7.16 billion in 2021 and $5.40 billion in 2018, the letter said.

The US is one of the major apparel importers for Bangladesh as well as for the world. In the last five years (2017-2022), US's apparel import from Bangladesh has increased by 13.99% CAGR whereas their import from the world has grown by 4.50% annually.

China, being the top apparel import source for the US and having a 21.75 % share, posted 10.83% year-over-year growth in 2022 in dollar value. On the other hand, Vietnam remains in the second position. The value of US's clothing from Vietnam was $12.21 billion in 2018 which increased to $14.37 in 2021 and reached $18.24 billion in 2022, the letter reads.

Other top countries having mentionable growth were Cambodia 28.46%, South Korea 25.08%, Pakistan 24%, Honduras 19.85% and Mexico 11.50% in 2022. The share of these countries also increased during the mentioned year.

"Since the share of Bangladesh in US's apparel import is only 9.75%, we have a huge opportunity to increase the share further. Bangladesh has already gained the top position in US's denim imports very recently. There are few more product categories where we have potential to further penetrate," the president said in the letter.

"There have been few issues in trade between the US and Bangladesh, especially the cotton fumigation requirement while importing cotton from the US. Our government has already waived the mandatory fumigation requirement for importing cotton from the US. This will certainly reduce the time and cost of business of our importers," it noted.