Bangladesh is unlikely to achieve its apparel export targets for the fiscal year 2022-2023.

For one, demand for apparel has decreased in the major markets, including European Union and the United States, due to the high trend of inflation. Global buyers are placing a decreasing volume of orders due to inflation. Readymade garment exports in October 2022 are expected to have fallen by nearly 20 per cent compared to that of the same month last year.

Export earnings from readymade garment exports in fiscal year 2021-2022 were 21 per cent higher than the target for that year. Also there is a shortage of energy in the country.The ongoing crisis of gas and electricity has pushed the production cost high as manufacturers have been trying to continue their production through diesel-run generators. Generators in factories are also being crippled due to their frequent use. So factory owners have been forced to negotiate orders with low prices in order to pay workers’ wages as the flow of orders has decreased in recent months.

The newly opened Center for Innovation, Efficiency and OSH is expected to help Bangladesh's garment sector transform its challenges into opportunities. A reduction of the export tax is also expected to help and there is a call for this.