Bangladesh’s garment exports in September 2022 were down seven per cent year-on-year and 15 per cent month-on-month.

Knitted garment exports fell by nine per cent, woven garments exports decreased by five per cent and home textiles exports saw a 18 per cent drop. This has been the first year-on-year decline in Bangladesh’s garment exports since August 2021. Bangladesh’s declining garment exports would affect its imports of textiles and semi-finished textile products, which could further lead to the reduction of imports from China.

From January 2022 to August 2022 China’s textile and garment exports to Bangladesh increased by 30 per cent year-on-year. Among them, textiles accounted for 98 per cent, showing that textile dominated China’s textile and apparel exports to Bangladesh.

Buyers pay lower prices to apparel suppliers in Bangladesh than they do to some of the country’s competitors. In fact they often pay prices that are below factory costs whereas Vietnam, Indonesia, Turkey and Mexico are given higher than the average rates. One reason prices of garment items made in Bangladesh are priced lower than the average world price is that manufacturers in Bangladesh are still strong in basic garment items. For instance, 80 per cent of Bangladesh's garment items are still confined to five cotton-made items and it has the problem of over-capacity.