Bangladesh鈥檚 travel goods exports to the United States saw a positive turnaround, achieving an 18.42 per cent year-on-year growth in January to April period of 2024.
The country鈥檚 export earnings from travel goods including luggage/briefcases, sports bags, women鈥檚 handbags and purses in the first four months of 2024 grew to $27.53 million compared with that of $23.25 million in the same period of 2023, according to US Department of Commerce data.
Exporters said that the demand for travel goods increased in the global markets including the US, but Bangladesh failed to gain the required market share due to long lead time and lack of own raw materials.聽
Bangladesh鈥檚 travel goods exports to the US in 2023 fetched $81.77 million, which is 20.12 per cent lower than the exports earnings of $102.36 million in 2022, the data showed.
The total US imports of travel goods from different countries in 2023 decreased by 16.04 per cent to $11.06 billion compared with that of $13.17 billion in 2022.聽
In the first four months of 2024, the total imports of travel goods by the US from different countries declined by 4.46 per cent to $3.46 billion compared with that of $3.62 billion in the same period of the previous year.
Although US imports of travel goods remained negative, most Asian manufacturers, including those in Bangladesh, India, Vietnam and Thailand, overcame or narrowed their negative export growth in the US market during the January-April 2024 period.
Ishtiak Parag, managing director at Victor Bags Factory Ltd, on Monday told 抖阴精品 that Bangladesh鈥檚 travel bag exports to the US had showed a positive trend in recent months, but the country failed to gain required market share due to long lead time and lack of availability of raw materials.
鈥楢fter getting export orders, we need to import raw materials mainly from China to produce the finished goods. It increases cost and takes long time to produce goods with imported raw materials,鈥� he said.
According to the US data, travel goods imports by the US from China in the first four months of 2024 decreased by 2.76 per cent to $751.92 million compared with that of $773.25 million in the same period of 2023.
Vietnam鈥檚 travel goods exports to the US in January-April of 2024 increased by 8.28 per cent to $351.44 million compared with that of $324.57 million in the same period of 2023.
Travel bag imports from Cambodia by the US in the four months of 2024 also increased by 2.78 per cent to $498.35 million compared with that of $484.86 million in the same period of previous year.
The total US imports of travel goods from India in January-April of 2024 increased by 0.45 per cent to $130 million compared with that of $129.42 million in the same period of 2023.