Bangladesh’s readymade garment export to the European Union (EU) market has declined by 3.67 per cent to 311 million kilograms (KG) in the first quarter of 2023 as the region is facing severe economic crisis and high inflation due to the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war.
During the period, the EU’s clothes import declined by 12.64 per cent to 946 million Kg, and Bangladesh also able to retain its second position of the region’s apparel import, while China is still in table topper.
Bangladesh, however, posted a 3.90 per cent to $5.63 billion year-on-year growth during the period in terms of values, while China’s earnings declined by 17.8 per cent to $5.75 billion year-on-year. In the January-March period, the EU’s apparel imports declined by 4.94 per cent to $23.41 billion, according to Eurostates.
Even, in terms of unit price, the country was also able to retain 7.86 per cent to $18.14 year-on-year for per Kg clothes export, while the EU increased average product price 8.81 per cent to $24.75 from the global market.
Commenting on the matter, the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) President Faruque Hassan said, “With 24.07 per cent share of the EU’s total RMG import (in terms of dollar value), Bangladesh remains the 2nd largest apparel import source for the EU after China (China’s share 24.55 per cent) during Jan-Mar 2023.
“However if we look at the quantity-wise import statistics (measured in kilograms), Bangladesh became number ‘one’ sourcing country for the EU during the mentioned months of 2023. In fact, Bangladesh secured the top position in the EU's apparel sourcing list in terms of quantity in 2022.”
He continued, “We posted positive growth in terms of values because our product cost rose due to the high price of raw material and high production cost. But our overall export is not good. Besides, we are still receiving less orders from the market when compared to the previous year.
The data showed that 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 Jan-Mar 2023, EU’s imports from Turkey, the 3rd largest apparel import source of EU has dropped significantly by 12.79 per cent. Yet, EU’s imports from India and Vietnam have increased by 5.75 per cent and 3.73 per cent respectively in value terms. Though volume-wise, EU’s import from all the top countries have shown negative growth.
According to the latest data, EU’s apparel import from the world in the mentioned period has declined by 4.94 per cent 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 per cent which is 136.88 million KGs less than Jan-Mar 2022.
