There is no looking back for Bangladesh’s garment exporters as the country is continuing to increase its share in its export destinations.
The country witnessed its apparel export crossing US $ 1 billion in its top export market USA in March ’22 – which is the highest shipment values of Bangladesh in USA in a single month ever.
Not just USA, Bangladesh is performing overwhelmingly well in its other export markets such as EU, the UK, Japan, Canada and Australia, which strongly signals that US $ 50 billion is not a far-fetched goal for the country now.
In CY ‘22, as per Team Apparel Resources’ prediction that has also been advocated by apex body BGMEA, Bangladesh is going to clock around US $ 42 billion in its RMG exports and, as a lot of expansions are happening across Bangladesh, its revenues will increase more in 2023 helping the country to hit US $ 50 billion target by CY ‘23 end.
All these developments indicate that ‘synergy’ between global apparel buyers and Bangladesh is stronger than ever. Buyers today are looking at the number of factors for their sourcing needs that are large and so varied in nature such as On Time Delivery Performance (OTDP), local and international compliance, sustainability credentials and multi-level supply chain visibility on which Bangladesh has worked on aggressively in last few years.
Apart from this, overseas buyers’ search for lower cost destinations now seems to be coming to an end, as running after the cheapest needle won’t be a trend anymore!
“Buyers have tried Ethiopia, Myanmar and a couple of other cheaper destinations but they have realised that political and economic stability is equally important while deciding to source garments from a country. As much as cheaper destinations weren’t fruitful for apparel buyers, countries such as Cambodia and Vietnam are also being saturated at a time when buyers are already moving from China. Both countries aren’t seeing any fresh investment in their garment industry and that’s also an indicator that Bangladesh holds strong contest to attract buyers for their sourcing needs,” told Fateh Ul Islam, Managing Director, Green Smart Shirt Limited to team Apparel Resources.
As per Bangladeshi garment experts, any emerging country will now take another 10-15 years to establish itself as a preferred sourcing destination for buyers, but this isn’t going to be as easy as it seems. Post COVID, there have been a lot of disruptions in supply chain and logistics; therefore, the trust of buyers is shifting only on those countries that performed well during disrupting period in last two years.
“For a country to stay ahead in export business, it’s essential to have stable government, their support, as well as intelligent sourcing practices for raw material and Bangladesh has that strength,” concluded Fateh.
Bharat Tex Special Report 2026 
