Apparel Export to US Rocketed to $1.44 B

Bangladesh's RMG export to the USA has reached $1.44 billion in the first two months of 2022. This data is coming from the US department of commerce’s office of textiles and apparel (Otexa). Comparatively, in the same period, last year's export was around $1 billion. This is a growth of 44%, a staggeringly high number when you consider Bangladesh RMG is not receiving any duty benefits. This increase was due to the high demand for apparel items and an increase in raw material costs increasing prices.

Exporters said that the successful rebound of the US economy from the Covid-19 shock had created additional demand for apparel products. According to the Otexa data, the value of apparel products in January-February increased more than the volume in the world market.

In volume terms, export from Bangladesh to the US in the first two months of 2022 has increased by 35.11% to 530 million square meters from 392 million square meters in the same period of 2021 (Otexa data).

According to the data total export of apparel products to the US in the first two months of this year is %15.02 billion, an increase of 24.69% from the previous year.

Faruque Hassan, president of the BGMEA, recently said in a press conference that one of their goals was to brighten the image of the RMG industry by highlighting the positive aspects of the apparel industry to international brands and buyers. He also expressed that BGMEA is working on apparel diplomacy to reduce any uncertainty. As a part of that, they recently signed an agreement with American Apparel and Footwear Association (AAFA).

Furthermore, US hemp fibre company Panda Biotech has said that it will work with the BGMEA to introduce US-grown sustainable hemp fibre to Bangladesh's apparel exporters from October, reported Just Style on March 16. The US-China trade war also accelerated Bangladesh apparel export to the USA.

Bangladeshi clothing always had a strong position in the US market. The entrepreneurs are also working hard to sustain this trend of export growth to the US.