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Bangladesh exported denim apparel to the US market worth $839.13 million in the first ten months (January-October) of 2022, fetching a year-one-year growth of 36.23%, and remaining the top exporter.
Data from the Office of Textiles and Apparel (Otexa) of the Commerce Department shows that Bangladesh exported denim apparel to the North American country worth $615.95 million in the said period of 2021.
Meanwhile, Bangladesh’s denim apparel exports to the United States surpassed the total figure of 2021 in the first 10 months of 2022 with a 23.16% market share.
Bangladesh exported denim apparel to the US worth $798.42 million in 2021, which was 42.25% higher than the earnings of $561.26 million in 2020.
Moreover, in 2021, Bangladesh became the top denim exporter to the US for the second consecutive year by overtaking Mexico, its nearest rival at the US denim market.
Industry insiders believe that Bangladesh will also be the highest supplier of the denim apparel to the US market at the end of the year 2022, for the third consecutive year.
During the aforementioned period in 2022, the US imported denim clothing from the world worth $3.62 billion, a minor increase of 22.66% from $2.95 billion during the same time period in 2021, Otexa data stated.
According to industry insiders, Bangladesh was still leading the market despite global economic turbulence, and inflation, and hoped to be the dominant exporter by the end of this year as Bangladeshi denim is the biggest brand in the US market and US buyers considered it an elite product of high quality.
Other than Bangladesh, imports from the second highest supplier, Mexico, increased 18.06% to $637.91 million, from $535.76 million in the mentioned period of 2021.
Imports from disaster-stricken Pakistan soared by 34.80% to $419.12 million in the first ten months of 2022, up from $310.89 million in the January-October period of 2021.
Supply from Vietnam to the US grew by YoY 18.85% to $383.35 million in the mentioned period, up from $322.53 million in the January-October period of 2021.
Shipments from China experienced a negative growth by 3.78% to $312.92 million in January-October of 2022 from $325.23 million in the same period of the last year.
However, the import of denim apparel by the US has been experiencing narrow trends since September.
According to various reports, as the US economy faces headwinds, US apparel imports have slowed substantially.
Specifically, with US consumers struggling with four-decade-high inflation and having to prioritize budget for other necessities, the value of US clothing retail sales will face a hard impact.
Moreover, the rising sourcing costs remained a significant business challenge to US fashion companies and due to weakened demand, US fashion brands and retailers could not entirely pass the rising sourcing cost on to consumers.
Talking to Dhaka Tribune, Mohiuddin Rubel, additional managing director of Denim Expert Limited and a director of the BGMEA, said that the growth to the US market is consistent even during the Covid-19 and current turbulent global economy.
“Some of the global equations have also worked here, like the issues between the US and China,” he added.
Moreover, the supply chain disruption in many manufacturing countries during the pandemic also created a gap but then, Bangladesh was in production, which increased their trust.
“Sustainable and compliant factories, maintaining ESG along with our high-end products, technological excellence in denim manufacturing which have helped us to build a strong base in the US market,” Rubel further said.
He also said that they believe the growth will continue in the future and have to work to sustain the growth.
“We have to increase competitiveness, invest in technology upgradation, work on innovation, diversification, and pay attention to maintaining lead time,” he added.
(DT)
