The decline in apparel shipments from Bangladesh to the United States has persisted over the past several months, attributed to a slowdown in garment item sourcing by American retailers and brands amid heightened inflationary pressure.
Reports maintained this adding consumer spending on non-essential items, including apparel articles, slowed down last year, leading to the accumulation of old inventories in stores in the United States, which serves as Bangladesh’s single largest export destination.
However, a turnaround was witnessed during the festive months of November and December, coinciding with the holiday shopping season that includes Black Friday, Cyber Monday, and Christmas.
Due to lower consumer spending, garment shipments from Bangladesh to the US saw a year-on-year decline of 24.91 per cent to US $ 6.79 billion in the January-November period of the previous year, as reported by the Office of the Textile and Apparel (OTEXA) of the US.
Considering textile and apparel together, Bangladesh’s overall export reportedly declined by 25.41 per cent to US $ 6.95 billion during the same period.
Similar trends were observed globally, with garment shipments to the US from other major supplying nations such as China, Vietnam, India, and Pakistan also experiencing declines.
The overall shipment to the US from these countries decreased by 22.40 per cent to $72.40 billion. Notably, China’s garment shipments fell by 25.85 per cent to US $ 15.21 billion, Vietnam’s sales declined by 22.68 per cent to US $ 13.17 billion, India recorded a decrease of 21.53 per cent to US $ 4.18 billion, and Pakistan saw a decline of 28.05 per cent to US $ 1.85 billion.
Meanwhile, Faruque Hassan, the President of BGMEA, highlighted that the demand for clothing items in the US was low last year even as he underlined demand is anticipated to increase from February or March as old inventories were significantly reduced during festive sales at the end of the previous year.
