Germany emerged as the top destination of Bangladesh’s apparel exports to the world in October 2018, followed very closely by the United States which occupied the spot last month.
- Exports in Germany gains by 19%
- US sees big leaps with 31%
- Growth in UK slow with only 4% gain
- Good gain in Canadian market at 14%
According to latest data released by Bangladesh Export Promotion Bureau, apparel exports to Germany fetched US $ 2.06 billion during July-October 2018. This was a 19 per cent gain over the US $ 1.73 billion from the same period last year.
Further analysis of Apparel Resources shows, knitwear fetched US $ 1.23 billion during this period, what was a near 13 per cent gain. Woven items saw surging growth of over 29 per cent, fetching over US $834 million during this first fiscal quarter.
The US market, which once was atop Bangladesh’s apparel export destination, saw impressive gain during the first quarter. The total apparel exports during this period fetched US $ 2 billion, marking a 31 per cent gain over last year’s US $ 1.56 billion.
Woven products traditionally are more popular in this market segment. During July-October, woven items fetched US $ 1.49 billion – a gain of over 24 per cent. Knitwear exports saw receipt of US $ 525 million thus far, witnessing a gain of 8 per cent.
According to experts and industry stakeholders, this gain can be attributed to two major factors – the global shift in sourcing strategy, which is commonly known as China plus sourcing strategy, and to increasing work orders due the ongoing trade war between US and China.
United Kingdom, what has consistently been Bangladesh’s third biggest export destination, saw a rather slow growth. Apparel exports during the first quarter of FY 18-19 fetched US $ 360 million, what was an impressive 14 per cent rise from the last year.
Knitwear fetched over US $ 740 million during the first quarter witnessing a gain of over 8 per cent. Woven exports declined with a receipt of US $ 556 million – a fall of over 3 per cent.
The market in Canada has gained momentum on the other hand. During these four months, the export receipts from Canada amounted to US $ 360 million, what was a rather impressive 14 per cent gain in comparison to the US $ 314 million witnessed in this period last year.
The market is more or less evenly distributed between the knit and woven segments; but the growth of knitwear in this market was noticeable. Knitwear fetched US $ 178 million, what was 21 per cent gain from last year. Woven amounted to US $ 182 million, a gain of 8 per cent.
