Bangladesh Apparel beat China in the EU Market

Bangladesh Apparel beat China and witnessed the highest growth in the EU

The European Union (EU) is the largest importer of apparel from the Chinese market. But in nine months (January-September) of 2022, Bangladesh has come to the top, leaving behind the country. This was revealed by analyzing data on the volume of goods produced by Eurostat, the European Union’s statistical agency.

The 27 countries belonging to the EU import more than 20 billion dollars worth of apparel products from Bangladesh annually.

Statistics were expressed by the European Statistical Office (Eurostat) and composed by the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) that Bangladesh’s RMG shipment — experienced an encouraging growth of 43.21% to $17.55 billion in the first nine months (January-September), 2022. 

On the other hand, China shipped $18.85 billion worth of clothing items to the trade bloc during the same period.

EU’s third largest sourcing destination for apparel, Turkey, posted around 20 percent growth compared to the previous year’s period. Similarly, shipments from India rose 28.85 percent year-on-year to attain $3.56 billion.

Bangladesh’s export status in the Europeans Union’s

With this, Bangladesh retained its function as the second biggest garment dealer for the EU after China. Eurostat recently released EU apparel import figures for January-September. It has been seen that EU countries have imported 347 million 777 thousand kg of clothes from all over the world in these nine months. Among the major markets, the most significant imports came from Bangladesh. The amount of which was 102 crore 76 lakh 30 thousand kg. In terms of quantity, the import growth has been 28.15 percent. The value of imported clothing was 1,755 million 180 thousand dollars. In terms of monetary value, the growth has come to 43.21 percent.

The EU’s global apparel imports grew to $77.77 billion in the first nine months (January – September) of 2022, attaining a growth of 25.87% from $61.79 billion in the same period last year.

Bangladesh’s garment exports to the European Union (EU) increased by 16.61 percent to reach US$ 11.5 billion in July-December of the fiscal year 2022-23. According to country-wise statistics published by the Export Promotion Bureau (EPB), exports stood at $9.87 billion during the same period as the previous year, the fiscal year 2021-22. 

Among the top ten apparel exporters to the EU, Bangladesh acquired the highest growth. Other countries with significant growth were Cambodia 41.08%, Indonesia 33.46%, Vietnam 33.05%, Pakistan 30.76%, and Sri Lanka 18%.