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Apparel import to the European Union (EU) – the largest destination for Bangladesh’s readymade garment (RMG) – witnessed an encouraging growth of 35.69% to $22.89 billion in the last calendar year, up from $16.87 billion in 2021.
The European Statistical Office (Eurostat) published their latest import statistics compiled by the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA).
In 2022, the EU countries imported apparel items worth $102.09 billion from its global sources, attaining a year-on-year (YoY) growth of 20.97% from $85.23 billion in the same period of 2021, Eurostat data stated.
The EU imported apparel items from China worth $30.14 billion, fetching a YoY growth of 17.01% from $25.76 billion in 2021.
Followed by Bangladesh, Turkey is the third largest supplier to the EU and posted a YoY growth of 10.09% to $11.98 billion in 2022 from $10.88 billion in 2021.
In 2022, the EU imported apparel from India worth $4.86 billion, 21.02% higher from $4.01 billion in 2021.
EU countries sourced apparel items from Vietnam worth $4.57 billion in 2022, fetching a YoY growth of 35.28% from $3.37 billion in 2021.
Among other notable global apparel manufacturers, Pakistan fetched a YoY growth of 27.99% to $3.94 billion, Cambodia 35.39% to $3.8 billion, and Morocco 6.73% to $3.12 billion in 2022, Eurostat data showed.
However, among the top ten apparel suppliers to the EU, Bangladesh attained the highest growth rate.
Apart from the value, the unit price of the apparel items also grew by 11.95% to $17.27 per kg whereas that of China, Turkey, India, and Vietnam grew by 4.6% to $23.09, 3.12% to $25.39, 3.82% to $23.27, and 2.92% to $30.76 per kg respectively.
The unit price of Bangladesh is still the second lowest among the top ten suppliers, only ahead of Pakistan ($14.47/kg), the data stated.
Talking to Dhaka Tribune, BGMEA Director Mohiuddin Rubel said that the growth was much higher than any other countries.
“We can say that we are doing well, but we have to keep it in mind that the situation was pretty good in the post-Covid-19 situation, and consumers were going through revenge shopping and China was having their lockdown,” he added.
For those reasons, exports from Bangladesh saw higher growth.
However, due to the Russia-Ukraine war, the global economy has been experiencing inflationary pressures and high production costs.
“We can see the value of apparel has increased which is also a reason for this growth. So, this means our CM for the manufacturer point of view has not increased,” he added.
Moreover, due to the war issue, he also said they had to observe how the rest of the ongoing calendar year turned out – such as how the market is reacting, the inflation rates, effect of the war, and others.
Europe is the world’s leading importer of RMG items – nearly one-fourth of the world’s total apparel imports. China is its top supplier.
Though the gap between Bangladesh and China in the export of apparel items to the EU market is decreasing gradually and the growth rate of Bangladesh is higher.
Bangladesh holds a market share of roughly 23% in the EU, while China holds more than 29%.
Manufacturers said that the apparel sector of the country is now green, safest, and eco-friendly and the country’s garment sector operates in line with the standards pertaining to environmental safety, water and energy saving, and workers’ welfare.
They are confident that Bangladesh will be the top exporter to Europe soon as China’s RMG market share is decreasing worldwide as they gradually are phasing out from the sector.
(DT)
