Bangladesh RMG sees highest growth in EU

Industry Desk: Bangladesh’s readymade garment (RMG) exports to the European Union (EU) has reached a stunning milestone – as in January-August 2022, the country’s largest apparel export destination witnessed a 45.26% year-on-year growth in the EU – surpassing the leading apparel exporter China’s apparel growth in the period.
As per the latest data by the European Statistical Office (Eurostat), Bangladesh exported around $15.37 billion RMG during the period – making the country to grab the second biggest apparel exporter after China. While China’s RMG export registered a 26.59% growth and the country exported $18.85 billion worth of apparel in the January-August 2022 period.
The Eurostat data revealed that the apparel manufacturers exported items worth $10.58 billion to the EU countries in the same period last year. Besides, the EU’s worldwide apparel imports grew to $67.18 billion in the first eight months of 2022, attaining a growth of 26.77% from $52.99 billion in the same period last year, the Eurostat data showed.
While, Türkiye’s garment exports posted around 20% growth in January-August 2022 period. The EU imported clothing items worth $8.17 billion from Turkey. At the same time, India exported $3.56 billion worth apparel to EU with a growth of 28.85% compared to the previous year. Other top countries having high growth were Cambodia 42.21%, Pakistan 31.34%, and Indonesia 35.41%.
Bangladeshi apparel leaders opined that Eurostat usually has a break of three months in publishing data. Thus, from July, the international condition has transformed notably due to economic chaos, inflationary burdens, war and lengthy summer, which led to a drop in RMG orders and already instigated a negative growth in September by 7.52% while October witnessed a very lean growth in apparel export earnings.