Thanks to the coronavirus pandemic that has hit spending on apparel items, Bangladesh’s earnings from export of readymade garments to USA— US is the largest export destination for Bangladesh — fell 13.11 per cent in the first two months of 2021.
Media reports maintained this citing data from the US Department of Commerce’s Office of Textiles and Apparel while adding that in January-February of 2021, Bangladesh’s garment exports to USA fell by US$ 151 million to US$ 1 billion from what was US$1.15 billion in the same period of the previous year even as the garment exporters in Bangladesh have, reportedly, stated that apparel export to US decreased more in terms of value than volume.
Meanwhile, speaking to the media, the outgoing President of the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA), Dr. Rubana Huq, reportedly, said that the average decline in unit price of apparel for July-March 2020-21 compared to July-March 2018-19 was 3.58 per cent and went on to add, “Such consecutive declines in unit price do not require further analysis to understand the magnitude of vulnerability the industry is dealing with,” while underlining that price trend continued to worsen as the export destinations were still struggling to contain the spread of the dreaded virus.
