While Bangladeshi garment exports maintained a positive trend in 2023, cotton imports declined sharply. Alongside imports of yarns and fabrics, too, fell.
“Bangladeshi cotton imports dropped to 1.35 million tons in 2023, down 24.85 percent as against 1.80 million tons in 2022,” figures from the Bangladesh Textile Mills Association (BTMA) revealed.
According to experts, the main reason for the drop in cotton imports is that the mills could not run at total capacity due to a shortage in gas supply.
“Additionally, a few mills that do not have access to the export development fund faced difficulties in importing cotton due to the forex crisis,” media reports quoting experts stated.
Alongside, yarn imports decreased in 2023 by 10.11 percent year on year to 0.92 million tons, while woven fabric imports dipped 14.49 percent to 0.49 million tons, and knitted fabric imports fell 10.34 percent to 0.32 million tons.
Even though imports of core textile raw materials decreased in 2023, garments exports witnessed a growth of 3.67 percent year-on-year.
However, manmade fiber (MMF) imports reported significant growth last year, as Bangladesh garment exporters increased exports of non-cotton garments in 2023.
