Garment exports to EU soar 24pc in Jul-Dec

Garment shipments to the European Union, including the UK, Bangladesh's single largest export destination, rose 23.83 per cent year-on-year to $12 billion in the current fiscal year's first half.

And this came about in spite of the pandemic's fallout in the global apparel supply chain.

With the reopening of the economy, garment shipments to the EU started rebounding strongly, notably from June last year. Shipments to other major export destinations also grew significantly.

For instance, garment export to the US market grew 45.91 per cent year-on-year to $4.23 billion between last July and December, according to data from the Export Promotion Bureau (EPB).

Bangladesh's garment shipments to the US have been witnessing a massive growth mainly for three important reasons – its competitive prices, the Biden administration's stimulus cheques for Americans which propelled demand in the economy and the US-China tariff war.

Meanwhile in the neighbouring North American country of Canada, apparel shipments from Bangladesh have witnessed a major growth of 23.78 per cent year-on-year to $0.60 billion.

Of the non-traditional markets, Bangladesh has been staging a strong performance in India, China and Japan.

Garment export also increased by 24.26 per cent year-on-year to $3.05 billion in the non-traditional markets during the same period, the data also said. Except for the EU, Canada and the US, all markets are considered non-traditional.

"I am hopeful that both the EU and the US markets will continue to perform strongly in the near future," said MA Jabbar, managing director of DBL Group, a leading garment exporter.

"The international retailers and brands have been coming up with loads of work orders with the strong reopening of their economies," he said.

DBL Group witnessed a 39 per cent year-on-year growth in export in 2021 and Jabbar expects to achieve the same this year.

Of the shipments, a majority were to the EU as the world's largest trade bloc is the main export destination for his products. Jabbar declined to mention the exact amount of export earnings by his company.

However, he is expanding his production capacity, which he said was for an abundant inflow of work orders to his factories.

Regarding Omicron and the markets, Jabbar said the retailers and brands want a continuous supply of goods as they were running their outlets in full swing.

"That means we also need to run our factories," he said.

Omicron might not have any serious negative impact on the shipments of goods to the major markets as this virus has so far not caused any massive loss of lives, he added.

AK Azad, chairman and chief executive officer of Ha-Meem Group, another leading garment exporter, said his group exported $750 million worth of garments and fabrics last year.

Of the amount, some $550 million is garment items, 95 per cent of which went to the US markets. Azad is expecting to ship $650 million worth of garment items at the end of the current year.

"The responses from the US retailers and brands are still very positive and I hope that it will continue to grow," Azad told The Daily Star over the phone.

Faruque Hassan, president of the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association, said the exports would continue to grow in the near future as retailers and brands still had high confidence in the global supply chain.

"We have been running the factories following the health protocols," he said.

"The overall situation is still very good and it is expected that the same condition will prevail as we have booked a lot of work orders from our retailers and brands," Hassan told The Daily Star over the phone.

Usually, the sale of clothing items is a bit slow in December and January as people in the Western world check their spending after Christmas celebrations, he said.

Even during such a time, the export order inflow is better than what it was during this time last year, Hassan said.