The latest official data of country-wise exports is published and I am writing to share with you the analyses for the first six months of 2023, that is January-June 2023. Attached, you will find the statistics for your reference.
During the mentioned period, Bangladesh’s RMG exports to world registered a growth of 5.65%, with an amount of US$ 23.99 billion during the January-June 2023 period compared to the US$ 22.71 billion export in the corresponding period of 2022.
Notably, the European Union posted a growth of 4.22%, with a total export turnover of US$ 12.02 billion, up from US$ 11.53 billion during the same period a year earlier. Out of 27 EU member countries, our export declined in Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland and Slovenia (please see the detailed data in the attachment). Germany experienced a decline of 15.81%, with a total value of US$ 3.22 billion compared to US$ 3.83 billion in January-June 2022. In the remaining 21 countries, we retained a positive average growth so far during this period. France and Italy exhibited strong growth with exports increased by 15.2% and 28.6%, respectively, amounting to US$ 1.52 billion and US$ 1.14 billion respectively. Bangladesh’s export to Spain also increased by 19.36% and reached US$ 1.87 billion.
In USA our export dipped by 11.36%; dropped to US$ 4.23 billion in Jan-June 2023 from US$ 4.78 billion in Jan-June 2022. Conversely, our export to the UK and Canada experienced positive growth by 11.67% and 6.65% respectively, with exports amounting to US$ 2.63 billion and US$ 771.67 million.
Apart from the traditional markets, our export to new markets increased significantly by 30.63%; reached to US$ 4.33 billion in Jan-Jun, 2023 from US$ 3.31 billion in Jan-Jun, 2022. Among the non-traditional markets, our export to Japan, Australia, India, Turkey and Brazil have demonstrated impressive positive growth by 48.48%, 55%, 32.77%, 33.12%, and 83.28% respectively. Meanwhile, United Arab Emirates and Chile showed negative growth by 11.81% and 17.06 respectively.
You are aware that BGMEA has been working to diversify the market base of Bangladesh’s RMG products. The government of Bangladesh is promoting and encouraging market diversification. As part of our market exploration endeavor, BGMEA has organized the first ever Bangladesh Apparel Summit in Melbourne, Australia on 18 July. We have been able to create the much needed buzz there highlighting the sustainability progress of the industry as well as our emerging product capabilities. I will share further details on the event in my later email.
