BD likely to be top RMG exporter to EU this year
Staff Reporter :
The entrepreneurs of the country’s apparel sector are expecting that Bangladesh would be the top RMG exporter to the European Union in terms of value at the end of this year.
Achieving the target, they have made a significant progress in product diversification and considerable investment in backward linkage industries and high-end sophisticated items in recent years, the sector insiders said.
They are now working for mid and upper-mid priced brands in Europe and exporting high-valued item, which is reflected in the unit price surge in recent years, they added.
“If we look at the unit price, it shows upward trend. EU’s cumulative unit price of import from Bangladesh increased by 11.95 per cent year-on-year to $17.27 in 2022 from $15.42 was in 2021.
Both value and quantity wise EU’s import from Bangladesh saw 35.69 per cent and 21.20 per cent growth respectively,” said Faruque Hassan, President of the BGMEA.
“In terms of quantity (measured in kilogram), our share (28.90 per cent) has already crossed the share of China (28.46 per cent) in 2022 and gained the top position for the very first time in EU. In value term, we also hope to be the top apparel sourcing country for the destination by end of 2023,” he added.
As per the global apparel trade data published by the WTO for 2022 recently, the value of the EU’s apparel import from Bangladesh has grown by 9.42 per cent CAGR (Compound Annual Growth Rate), whereas the import from the world has shown 4.31 per cent average annual growth in the last five years.
The EU’s apparel import from the world grew by 20.97 per cent year-on-year to $ 103.09 billion in 2022 from $85.23 billion was in 2021 and $ 90.53 billion in 2018, the data showed.
As per the data, EU imported $ 22.89 billion worth of apparel from Bangladesh in 2022 which was $16.87 billion in 2021 and $ 16.44 billion in 2018 and with 22.20 per cent share in terms of value, Bangladesh remains the second largest apparel import source for the EU after China.
In terms of quantity (measured in kilogram), EU’s clothing import from Bangladesh also increased by 21.20 per cent Y-O-Y to $ 1.32 billion in 2022 from $ 1.09 billion in 2021, the WTO data said.
As per the data, the share of Bangladesh EU’s total apparel import has climbed to 22.20 per cent in 2022 from 18.16 per cent was in 2018.
In contrast, China’s share has declined to 29.24 per cent in 2022 from 30.15 per cent in 2018.
With 11.62 per cent share Turkey ranked as the third largest apparel import source for EU which posted 10.09 per cent year-on-year growth in 2022.
EU imported $11.98 billion worth of clothing from the country in 2022 which was $ 10.89 billion in 2021 and $ 9.92 billion in 2018.
On the other hand, EU’s import from India reached $4.87 billion in 2022 from $ 4.01 billion in 2021 and $ 4.60 billion in 2018. Yet, the share of India has declined to 4.72 per cent in 2022 from 5.08 per cent in 2018.
EU’s import from Vietnam has also increased by 35.28 per cent to $ 4.57 billion in 2022 from $ 3.37 billion in 2021 and the share of it reached 4.43 per cent in 2022 from 3.68 per cent in 2018.
Besides, EU’s import from the other top sourcing countries such as Cambodia, Pakistan, Morocco, Sri Lanka and Indonesia grew by 35.39 per cent, 27.99 per cent, 6.73 per cent, 14.87 per cent, and 24.47 per cent respectively in 2022.
