Bangladesh's apparel export to EU increases by 3.9%, remains second largest source

Bangladesh's apparel export to European Union has shown value-wise growth by 3.9% during the January-March period of 2023 to $5.6 billion from $5.4 billion in January-March 2022.

Also, with 24.07% share of the EU's total RMG import (in terms of dollar value), Bangladesh remains the second largest apparel import source for the EU after China (China's share 24.55%) during January-March 2023.

However, according to the quantity-wise import statistics (measured in kilogram), Bangladesh became number "one" sourcing country for EU during the mentioned months of 2023. In fact, Bangladesh secured the top position in EU's apparel sourcing list in terms of quantity in 2022 as well.

In quantity term, import from Bangladesh saw a decline by 3.67%, or 11.84 million KGs, says a statistic recently published by Eurostat.

The quantity decline was caused by inflated unit price (due to raw materials, transportation and other production cost hike) which was increased by 7.86% in January-March of 2023.

"The Eurostat has published the data on EU's apparel import for the period of January-March 2023 and we have compiled and analyzed it based on year-on-year progress," said Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association President Faruque Hassan.

The Eurostat statistic says, apparel import from the world in the mentioned period has declined by 4.94% compared to the corresponding period of 2022, about 1.22 billion dollars decline. In terms of quantity, EU's clothing import had a stiff downturn by 12.64%, which is 136.88 million KGs less than Jan-Mar 2022.

EU's import from China the 2nd largest apparel import source has declined by 17.80% in value terms to $5.7 billion during the mentioned period fromU$6.99 dollars. In terms of quantity, the decline is recorded 22.46 % or 65 million KGs.

Among the top ten apparel-sourcing countries Bangladesh, India, and Vietnam have shown positive growth while EU's apparel import from other countries including Turkey, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, and Morocco has declined.

As per the data, during January-March 2023, EU's imports from Turkey the third largest apparel import source of EU has dropped significantly by 12.79%. Yet, EU's imports from India and Vietnam have increased by 5.75% and 3.73% respectively in value terms. Though volume-wise, EU's import from all the top countries has shown negative growth.