Tuesday, March 11, 2025
Year : 2, Issue: 28
Business Desk: Bangladesh has outperformed competitor countries to attain the highest year-on-year growth in apparel shipments to the US market in January, as American retailers and brands are placing large volumes of work orders here to capitalise on the favourable tariff regime.
In January, garment exports to the US from Bangladesh increased by 45.93 percent year-on-year to $799.65 million, according to data from the Office of Textiles and Apparel (OTEXA) of the US.
Exporters said this happened as the Trump administration raised tariffs on imports from China and Mexico, creating an advantage for Bangladesh in the US market.
In the run-up to the presidential election, Trump had declared that he would impose high tariffs on goods imported from China, Mexico, and other countries if elected.
Right after taking office, he increased the tariff on Chinese goods from 25 percent, which he had set during his last tenure as US president, to 35 percent.
On the other hand, Bangladeshi exporters have long faced a 15.62 percent duty on exports to the US. Under the current circumstances, Bangladesh has the opportunity to increase exports to the US.
In January, the US imported garment items worth $7.20 billion from all over the world, marking a year-on-year growth of 19.46 percent.
Meanwhile, China’s apparel exports to the US rose by 13.72 percent to $1.60 billion.
Correspondingly, Vietnam secured 19.90 percent growth to reach $1.44 billion, India 33.64 percent to $473.27 million, Indonesia 41.70 percent to $419.95 million, Cambodia 29.95 percent to $324.99 million, and Mexico 1.20 percent to $193.70 million.
In the July–February period of the current fiscal year 2024–25, Bangladesh’s garment exports worldwide totalled $26.80 billion.
This represents substantial growth of 10.64 percent from the $24.22 billion attained during the same period last fiscal year.
This increase signifies the resilience and dedicated efforts of the industry towards promoting sustainability and continuous economic advancement, said Faruque Hassan, former president of the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA).
