Bangladesh witnessed the worst negative apparel export growth among competitor countries in the European Union market in the first two months of 2024 after suffering the same in the United States market in the same period.
Bangladesh鈥檚 apparel exports to the EU, the 27-nation economic bloc, in January-February of 2024 declined by 26.74 per cent to 2.48 billion euros compared with those of 3.39 billion euros in the same period of 2023, according to the data released by Eurostat, statistical office of the European Union.
Exporters said that although the demand for apparel started to increase in the global market, Bangladesh was getting little benefit from the demand surge due to the long lead time and increasing cost of production.
Bangladesh鈥檚 knitwear exports to the EU in January-February of 2024 decreased to 1.42 billion euros compared with those of 2 billion euros in the same period of 2024.
The country鈥檚 woven garment exports to the EU in the first two months of 2024 also fell to 1.06 billion euros compared with those of 1.38 billion euros in the same period of 2023.
Recently, the US Department of Commerce鈥檚 Office of Textiles and Apparel data showed that Bangladesh has fallen far behind in terms of apparel export to the US market in the January-February period of 2024 compared with its competitors.
The OTEXA data showed that Bangladesh鈥檚 apparel export to the US in January-February of 2024 fell by 19.24 cent while the exports of China in the market grew by 0.48 per cent and Vietnam鈥檚 exports increased by 0.14 per in the same period.
鈥業t鈥檚 very interesting that the data from the major import destinations showed increasing negative performance of Bangladesh but the data from the Export Promotion Bureau of Bangladesh showed positive growth,鈥� Bangladesh Knitwear Manufacturers and Exporters Association executive president Mohammad Hatem told 抖阴精品 on Saturday.
He said that inquiries from western buyers had increased in recent months, but many of the manufacturers have failed to entertain their (buyers) orders due to offering low prices by the buyers.
Buyers are now looking for a shorter lead time, but Bangladesh鈥檚 shipment time has increased to 89-90 days from 50-60 days due to gas crisis, so many of the western buyers are placing their orders to Vietnam and China, Hatem said.
The Eurostat data showed that clothing imports by the EU from different countries in the first two months of 2024 fell by 15.31 per cent to 12.53 billion euros compared with those of 14.80 billion euros in the same period of 2023.
Apparel imports by the EU from China in January-February of 2024 declined by 13.12 per cent to 3.33 billion euros compared with those of 3.83 billion euros in the same period of 2023.
Apparel imports of the EU from Turkey in the first two months of 2024 declined by 10.69 per cent to 1.54 billion euros compared with those of 1.72 billion euros in the same period of previous year.
India鈥檚 RMG exports to the EU in January-February of 2024 fell by 27.83 per cent to 621.26 million euros compared with those of 860.90 million euros in the same period of 2023.
Apparel imports of the EU from Vietnam in the first two months of 2024 fell by 10.77 per cent to 596.70 million euros compared with those of 668.77 million euros in the same period of 2023, the data showed.