Just 10 items account for about 68 percent of Bangladesh’s annual readymade garments export earnings; as experts call for product diversification to further scale up.
These 10 items accounted for $30.94 billion of the total export earnings $45.7 billion of Bangladesh last year, reveals data from the Export Promotion Bureau. Knitted cotton T-shirts topped those items with exports of $8.93 billion.
Men’s woven trousers were the second highest earner, with $5.94 billion with a 13 percent share of the total apparel exports. Women’s trousers were the third largest export item, earning $3.63 billion with year-on-year growth of 19.10 percent. The sector has a global market share of around 16 percent. Cotton jerseys and pullovers placed fourth in terms of earnings while those made of manmade fibre stood fifth.
Men’s cotton woven came next at sixth, women’s cotton knitted trousers seventh, synthetic woven trousers eighth, men’s cotton knitted shirts ninth and men’s cotton knitted trousers were the tenth most exported apparel item in 2022.
Bangladesh’s share in the global market for these 10 items was about 15 percent of the $160.43 billion registered that year. At the same time, the country grabbed an 8 percent share of the overall global apparel market valued at $431.94 billion.
Among these top 10 garment items, only 12 percent of the export earnings in 2022 came from non-cotton apparel while cotton-based apparel made up the rest. Only 25 percent of the textiles consumed worldwide are made of cotton.
Industry experts say huge opportunities await textile entrepreneurs but Bangladesh has a capacity shortage when it comes to making high-end garments such as sportswear, lingerie, and outerwear.
10 items account for 68 percent of Bangladesh apparel exports
