Bangladesh’s readymade garment exports to the United States witnessed a significant decline of 24.75 per cent in value during the January-October 2023 period, reflecting weakened demand for apparel attributed to the past year’s substantial market downturn amid rising inflation in the US.
According to data released by the US Department of Commerce’s Office of Textiles and Apparel recently, the country’s apparel exports to the US totalled US $ 6.36 billion, down from US $ 8.45 billion in the same period of 2022.
In terms of volume, Bangladesh experienced a 29.51 per cent reduction in RMG exports to the US, with quantities dropping to 1.95 billion square meters compared to 2.41 billion square meters in the corresponding period.
The data further revealed a 36.50 per cent year-on-year decline in apparel imports by the US from Bangladesh in October 2023, reaching US $ 578.35 million, compared to US $ 910.72 million in October 2022.
Throughout the ten months of 2023, Bangladesh’s RMG exports to the US displayed negative growth in eight months, with only January and July bucking the trend reportedly.
