Special Correspondent :
Bangladesh has enjoyed a big boost in apparel shipments in the US market last fiscal year even if RMG products of the country face a high tariff there.
Industry insiders attributed the buoyant export performance to the ongoing Sino-American trade war.
Bangladesh earned US$6.13 billion from exports of apparels in the US last fiscal year, posting a 14.60 per cent growth over the corresponding period of previous year, according to Export Promotion Bureau’s (EPB) latest export figure.
Traditionally, the US is the single largest export destinations for Bangladeshi goods. But the US authorities impose average 15.2 per cent tariffs of the value of all Bangladeshi shipments.
“Apparel exports to US market rose sharply due to US-China trade war,” Mohammad Hatem, Vice-President of the Exporters Association of Bangladesh (EAB) told The New Nation.
He said, imposition of high tariff on Chinese goods by the US prompted global buyers to shift work orders from China to Bangladesh leading to rise in Bangladesh’s garments export to the American market.
A data of the Office of Textiles and Apparel (OTEXA) of the US shows that apparel import by the US from Bangladesh stood at $2.55 billion during January-May of this year as compared to $2.21 billion during the corresponding period of last year, posting a 15.48 per cent year-on-year growth.
“The trade war opened a new horizon for the local garment industry though the local exporters are subjected to pay 15 per cent tariff on an average on their garment shipments to the US market,” said Hatem.
He cited the rise of tariff on almost all Chinese products from 10 per cent to 25 per cent makes their apparels expensive in the US market, while it gives local exporters a comparative advantage over Chinese products creating an opportunity for them.
“We are receiving plenty of work orders from American buyers as they now prefer to buy more Bangladeshi apparels than the Chinese ones due to cost competitiveness.”
Bangladesh is the world’s second biggest apparel exporter after China and its apparel shipments totalled at $34.13 billion in the immediate past fiscal year (2018-19).
The country’s export earnings in the just concluded fiscal year stood at record $40.53 billion and the apparel shipments accounted for 84 per cent of its total export income.
