Home ›› 13 Jan 2022 ›› Front
Bangladesh’s export earnings from the United States of America – the country’s single largest export destination – rose by nearly 44 per cent in the just concluded 2021, when compared year-on-year.
Latest data from the Export Promotion Bureau shows that Bangladesh earned $8.46 billion by exporting goods to the US in 2021, up from $5.88 billion recorded in the previous year.
More than 19 per cent of Bangladesh’s total export earnings came from the USA last year. In 2021, Bangladesh earned $44.21 billion from overall exports, an increase by 24.53 per cent compared to $35.5 billion posted in 2020.
Of the $8.46 billion export earnings last year, $7.28 billion came from the apparel sector, which was $5.06 billion in 2020. In 2021, apparel exports to the US posted a 43.87 per cent year-on-year growth.
Industry insiders and economists credited this growth to the economic recovery in the US and rise in prices of finished goods exported from Bangladesh.
Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) President Faruque Hassan told the Business Post, “Apparel exporters suffered due to work order cancellation, payment deferment and suspension of orders.
“But the exporters tackled such issues and ensured timely delivery, which gave confidence to buyers.”
He continued, “To improve the buyer-manufacturer relationship, we met US buyers during the October-November period as a part of our apparel diplomacy. With some persuasion, we convinced buyers to place more orders.
“The demand in the US market also grew along with their economic recovery. Besides, both the prices and the quantity of goods exported to the US have increased. Buyers increased prices of finished goods to accommodate the increased raw material prices.”
Adding that such factors have contributed to the sharp growth in export earnings from the USA, Faruque said, “In the coming months, export earnings will continue to go up as we have enough work orders, and the buyers are placing more for the upcoming seasons.”
Data from the Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD) reveal that the prices of apparel goods exported to the USA rose by 3.3 per cent during July-October of Fiscal Year 2021-22, compared to the same period previous year.
Under the same parameters, prices of clothing items increased by 0.9 per cent in the European Union as well.
Economists pointed out that the US government’s recovery policy has also helped to create more demands for Bangladeshi exports.
“With the ease in Covid-19 situation, the US was in post-Covid mode. As a part of their recovery plan, the US government increased public investment.
This investment created employment for people. Economic activities were good before the outbreak of Omicron,” Khondaker Golam Moazzem, research director at Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD) told the Business Post.
With the new sanction in some provinces of China on exports, US buyers relocated their purchase destination, while the US-China trade war impacts still persist. These gave a signal to buyers that the US-China trade relation would not improve soon, he added. As Bangladesh has the capacity to execute bulk and quick orders, it gained a lot from the uncertainty, said the economist.
