Falling consumption in the world largest economy amid the pandemic has led to 11.73 per cent decline in Bangladesh’s apparel exports to the United States in 2020. The US Department of Commerce’s Office of Textiles and Apparel data reveals, Bangladesh’s RMG exports to the US decreased by $695 million in value and 120 million sq mt in quantity compared with that in 2019. Bangladesh’s RMG exports to the US in 2020 fell by 5.98 per cent to 1.89 billion sq mt. Apparel import by the US from the world dropped 23.46 per cent in 2020 to $64.07 billion from $83.70 billion in the previous year.

According to BGMEA data, Bangladesh’s RMG exports to the US grew 5.5 per cent in volume in December 2020. However, their value declined by 13 per cent compared with that in the same month of 2019. US apparel imports from Bangladesh decreased by $56.17 million in December 2020 to $361.88 million from $418.057 million in the same month in 2019.Bangladesh’s apparel exports to the US grew by 8.09 million sq mt to 155.33 million sq mt in December 2020 from 147.30 million sq mt in the same month of 2019.

In July-December 2020, the US apparel imports from Bangladesh declined by 3.19 per cent year-on-year, BGMEA said.

Even though US global apparel imports dropped by 17.25 per cent, the imports from Cambodia and Pakistan grew by 6.89 per cent and 8.16 per cent respectively during the period.

US apparel imports from Vietnam decreased by 7.25 per cent but with 11.73 per cent negative growth, Bangladesh was holding a very shaky position compared with its fellow opponents.