USA is one of the major apparel importers for Bangladesh as well as for the world. In last five years (2017-2022), USA’s apparel import from Bangladesh has increased by 13.99% CAGR whereas their import from the world has grown by 4.50% annually.
In 2022, USA’s import from the world increased by 22.48% year-over-year and reached US$ 99.93 billion from US$ 81.58 billion in 2021. Bangladesh remains the third largest apparel source for USA with a 9.75% share of its total apparel import, which was 8.76% in 2021. In 2022, USA’s clothing import from Bangladesh grew by 36.38% year-over-year. USA imported US$ 9.74 billion worth of apparel from Bangladesh in 2022 which was US$ 7.16 billion in 2021 and US$ 5.40 billion in 2018. If we look at the quantity based statistics measured in per square meter equivalent (SME), USA’s apparel import from Bangladesh registered 20.65% year-over-year growth, which reached to 3.14 billion SME in 2022 from 2.60 billion in 2021. On the other hand USA’s import from China has declined by 3.11% quantity-wise in 2022 compared to 2021.
China, being the top apparel import source for USA and having a 21.75 % share, posted 10.83% year-over-year growth in 2022 in dollar value. USA’s apparel import from China reached US$ 21.73 billion in 2022 from US$ 19.60 billion in 2021 which was US$ 27.37 billion in 2018.
On the other hand, Vietnam remains in the second position. The value of USA’s clothing from Vietnam was US$ 12.21 billion in 2018 which increased to US$ 14.37 in 2021 and reached US$18.24 billion in 2022. The share of Vietnam in USA’s total apparel import also increased to 18.26% in 2022 from 14.74% in 2018. India and Indonesia both countries have shown over 35% growth in 2022 compared to 2021. The share of both countries increased to 5.69% and 5.61% respectively in 2022 from 4.59% and 5.40% in 2018.
Other top countries having mentionable growth were Cambodia 28.46%, South Korea 25.08%, Pakistan 24%, Honduras 19.85% and Mexico 11.50% in 2022. The share of these countries also increased during the mentioned year.
Since the share of Bangladesh in USA’s apparel import is only 9.75%, we have huge opportunity to increase the share further. Bangladesh has already gained the top position in USA’s denim import very recently. There are few more product categories where we have potential to further penetrate. Besides, we still have a number of US brands yet to source from Bangladesh or are sourcing at a limited scale. So, while we urge for diversifying our markets, we think we still have a huge scope of specialization in the existing ones.
We are committed to deliver the best to our customers, and U.S.A. being the largest market for us remains the biggest beneficiary of all of our efforts. There has been few issues in trade between USA and Bangladesh, especially the cotton fumigation requirement while importing cotton from USA. Our government has already waived the mandatory fumigation requirement for importing cotton from USA. This will certainly reduce the time and cost of business of our importers. We are now approaching the US Government to consider duty-free market access to U.S.A. for garment made of US cotton. This reciprocity will benefit the U.S. cotton growers, the U.S. apparel brands and consumers, while Bangladesh will gain an extra edge as a preference to U.S. cotton.
Apart from that, BGMEA is working with the American Apparel & Footwear Association (AAFA) on different issues to make trade between Bangladesh and USA easier. Last year, we have signed an MoU with the AAFA which aims to unlock the potential of Bangladesh’s RMG sector by enhancing competitiveness and facilitating trade access to the US market. Moreover, the 38th IAF World Fashion Convention will be organized in Philadelphia in October this year. We will take part in this conference being a member of IAF and myself being a Director of the Board of IAF. I believe we will get a significant opportunity there to highlight Bangladesh and our RMG industry.
