Political turmoil dents Bangladesh's position in US apparel market

Bangladesh was the third-largest supplier of US apparel imports in the third quarter of the current year, when total apparel imports were valued at $24.980 billion. In the second quarter, the US imported $1.656 billion worth of apparel from Bangladesh, which constituted 8.87 per cent of its total apparel imports of $18.669 billion. The total imports amounted to $18.940 billion in the first quarter, with imports from Bangladesh noted at $1.754 billion (9.26 per cent). Consequently, Bangladesh's market share decreased by more than one per cent in the third quarter compared to the first quarter, according to Fibre2Fashion's market insight tool TexPro.

US apparel imports from Bangladesh totalled $5.464 billion in the first nine months of the current year, which was 4.63 per cent lower than the imports of $5.729 billion in the same period last year. Bangladesh’s share also decreased from 9.01 per cent to 8.73 per cent in January-September 2024.

In 2023, Bangladesh’s market share was 8.89 per cent when US apparel imports from the country were noted at $7.248 billion. The importing country had imported $81.530 billion worth of apparel in total during the same year. US’ total apparel imports were recorded at $105.248 billion in 2022, with imports from Bangladesh valued at $9.807 billion, representing 9.32 per cent of the total, according to TexPro.

Therefore, Bangladesh’s share decreased to 8.73 per cent in January-September this year from 8.80 per cent in 2023 and 9.32 per cent in 2022.

ALCHEMPro News Desk (KUL)