Garments export to US declines

Garment exports to the US, the single largest export destination of Bangladesh, declined by 17.88 percent year on year in January-April period.

During this period last year, Bangladesh exported goods worth $3.28 billion to the US, but this year it was $2.7 billion, according to data from the Office of Textiles and Apparel (OTEXA) of the US Department of Commerce.

In 2022, Bangladesh earned $9.72 billion from garment shipments to the US.

Due to high inflation in the US, America's garment imports from all countries declined.

In June last year, the US had an inflation rate of 9.1 percent, but in April this year, it dropped to 4.9 percent.

Faruque Hassan, president of Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association, said even though inflation is showing down in the US, Bangladesh's export there may continue to decline for a few more months.

"We are expecting garment export to the US to rebound from December onwards as US consumers are still spending less on clothing items," he told The Daily Star.

Faruque added that in the first quarter of this year, garment exports to the US declined by 19 percent in value and 30 percent in volume year on year.

This trend may continue for a few months as bank interest rates in the US and Canada have been hiked to contain inflation, he said.

Bangladesh seems to be doing better than many other garment exporters, according to the OTEXA data. 

Apparel exports to the US from China, the largest clothing items supplier worldwide, declined by 32.45 percent year on year in the January-April period. Vietnam's exports to America dropped by 27.33 percent, India's by 16.59 percent, and Indonesia's by 25.57 percent.

In the January-April period, the US imported $25.21 billion worth of garments, which is 22.15 percent lower than what it imported in the same period last year, said OTEXA.