Market Desk (Bangladesh): As China witnessing a decrease in its share of trade due to economic slowdown of Covid implications, Bangladesh may overtake it as the source of most of the European Union’s (EU) apparel.
According to Ahsan H. Mansour, ED of the Policy Research Institute, China’s population decline has led to shortage of skilled workers. Meanwhile, Bangladesh is producing good quality standard clothing. As a result, Bangladesh can surpass China in terms of exports to EU.
The penetration of Bangladeshi apparel products is increasing as the demand for basic and value-added apparels increases.
Exports of Bangladeshi garments to the EU rose 41.76% to US$19.40bn in January-October, 2022, retaining its position as the second-largest garment exporter in the world after China.
The report also says that there is a shortage of skilled manpower in China. The country has been losing global apparel market share over the past few years due to withdrawal of foreign investment and rising production costs. As a result, other Asian countries like Bangladesh, Vietnam, Thailand, Cambodia, India and Pakistan are getting more orders from China.
In 2015, Bangladesh’s share of the global apparel market was 5.9% and based on the country’s apparel export data for 2021, the percentage increased to 6.5%.
According to BGMEA, Bangladesh’s market share in the EU increased to 24% in 2022 up from 18.55 in 2017.
President of BGMEA Farooq Hasan said that Bangladesh is already surpassing China in terms of denim exports to the EU. We will overtake China in other product categories in the near future as well.
