Bangladesh’s apparel exports to the US, which is incidentally the largest export destination for the country (Bangladesh), grew by 4.57 per cent to US $ 1.17 billion in July-August of FY22 from what was US $ 1.12 billion in the same period of the past fiscal year, according to the country’s Export Promotion Bureau (EPB) data, even as exports to the European Union in July-August of the current financial year 2021-22 fell by 3.39 per cent to US $ 3.4 billion from that of US $ 3.51 billion in the same period of FY2020-21 consequent to the economy of the bloc yet to recover from the fallouts of the coronavirus pandemic.
Reports maintained this adding apparel exporters have maintained that economy of the United States has started showing its strength and export earnings from the market are rising while exports to the major EU markets, including Germany, France, Italy and Poland, in the two months of FY22 posted a negative growth due to a slow recovery of their economies from the COVID-19 setbacks even as exports to the United Kingdom and Canada are also struggling still.
However, thanks to increased number of work orders, apparel exporters here in Bangladesh are, reportedly, hopeful that export in the EU markets would rebound in the coming months.
Meanwhile, interacting with the media, BGMEA Vice-President Md. Shahidullah Azim, reportedly, maintained that recovery of business in the EU would take time as the pandemic restrictions in the economic bloc remained in place for a longer period compared to the USA even as he underlined that Bangladesh has started receiving increased number of orders from the EU countries, of late.