Bangladesh's apparel exports declined in the first 21 days of December 2022.

This is attributed to inflation in the sector’s major export destinations fueled by the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war. Garment export earnings dropped suddenly in September after a long stretch of growth for the previous 13 months. Then they bounced back in October and November this year as some buyers received their deferred shipments of goods during that time. The slowdown of apparel shipments was expected this year as most factories have been receiving less work orders compared to previous years.

This situation is expected to continue till April-May 2023. Some factories are running factories at 90 per cent capacity. Garment prices have fallen about three per cent or four per cent compared to last year. Prices of raw materials like yarn have fallen but that is hardly enough to make any profit for most of the factories. Some usually receive a number of orders by December every year to keep them occupied for the next six or seven months but this year no orders have come after April.

Apparel exporters have been facing many challenges in running their units. For one they have been struggling to pay workers’ salaries regularly.