Kazi Zahidul Hasan :
Bilateral trade between Bangladesh and the US set a new milestone, hitting $10.64 billion in 2021, up $2.71 billion over the previous year, according to the United States Census Bureau.
In 2021, the US exported goods worth $2.33 billion to Bangladesh and imported goods worth $8.30 billion from the latter.
However, the US trade deficit with Bangladesh reached $5.96 billion in 2021.
The Dhaka-Washington bilateral trade was just $720 million in 1990 and it increased to $7.92 billion in 2020, the US Census Bureau data showed.
Exporters and trade analysts said the US is Bangladesh’s one of the most important trading partner, with about 20 per cent of its exports are being destined for the American market.The apparel based products from Bangladesh have made successful inroad in the recent years there despite high import tariffs in the USA.
The US imported apparel products worth $7.14 billion from Bangladesh in 2021, up by 36.69 per cent from $5.22 billion in 2020, according to the latest data released by OTEXA, an affiliate body of the US Department of Commerce.
Exporters said Bangladeshi exporters are the highest tariff payers among the 232 exporting nations to the US as the North American country imposes substantial import taxes on apparel and footwear.
For Bangladesh, tariffs were 15.2 per cent of the value of all apparel shipments.
“The US imposes taxes at disproportionately high rates on Bangladeshi apparel products and it is enormously affecting price competitiveness of domestic RMG industry. Exports to the US market would rise tremendously if the US provides the duty benefit to Bangladeshi apparel products,” said Abdus Salam Murshedi, Managing Director of Envoy Group, which is a leading exporter of apparel and textile products.
Bangladesh’stotalapparel exportin USwas worth $4.29 billion in 2010 and it reached to $5.40 billion during 2018. The country’s apparel exports to US stood at $5.92 billion in 2019 and it came down to $5.22 billion in 2020 due to disruption in global supply chain caused by Covid-19 pandemic.
Salam Murshedy, a Member of Parliament and former BGMEA president, also said that the US should reinstate Bangladesh’s preferential trading status in its market when local exporters are shipping goods complying all the conditions of the US buyers. Such a facility will help eliminates duties on imports from Bangladesh as well as accelerate the bilateral trade between Dhaka and Washington.
When asked, he said, “The US is a very competitive market for us and we are facing tough challenges from our competitors to sustain the export there. Despite challenges, our clothing exports to the US markets increased significantly last year due mainly to high demand from the US retailers and brands and Bangladesh’s strength in production of low cost basic garment items.”
“The two-way trade turnover between Dhaka and Washington which exceed $10 billion for the first time in 2021 was an important achievement, especially given the current pandemic situation,” said DrKhondaker Golam Moazzem, Research Director at the Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD).
“Bangladesh’s export to the US market experienced sluggish growth over the years as Bangladesh’s major export item apparels did not enjoy preferential market access in the US market since 2005 and a small amount of export of non-apparels products which enjoyed preferential market access in the US market lost the facility since 2013 when USA withheld Bangladesh’s market access preferences after the Rana Plaza tragedy.
Despite having the same situation currently prevails, Bangladesh’s export to US market has experienced a substantial progress in 2021 due to sudden rise in demand after the US economy opened up and people demand for apparels sharply increased,” he added.
Dr Golam Moazzemalso said that Bangladesh’s import from USA, on the other hand, has sharply increased. The major import item includes grains, cotton and machineries have experienced rise in demand mainly because of local demand for raw materials and capital machineries for domestic and export markets.
However, recent rise in US dollar against major currencies including Bangladeshi Taka is likely to have some impact both in export and import with USA, he noted.
He cited that the US economy appears to have recovered strongly from pandemic slowdown which created a big opportunity for Bangladeshi exporters. “Local businesses need to seize the opportunity by diversifying products line to cater demands of US consumers.”
Bilateral trade between the United States and Bangladesh stood at $9.0 billion in total during 2019, while it was 8.2 billion in 2018.
The two-way goods trade between Dhaka and Washington stood at $7.1 billion in total during 2017.
U.S. goods exports to Bangladesh totaled $1.4 billion while goods imports totaled $5.6 billion, resulting in a U.S. goods trade deficit with Bangladesh of $4.2 billion in 2017.
The US exports to Bangladesh include grains, seeds, soybeans, raw cotton, wheat, and corn, machinery, and iron and steel products, aircraft, electrical equipment and pharmaceuticals, while imports from Bangladesh include apparel, footwear, and textile products, headgear, and agricultural products, furniture, ceramic, toys, plastic items, artificial flowers etc.
