May 2022 Bangladesh's apparel exports rose year-on-year

The latest data showed that Bangladesh's apparel exports in May 2022 were 3.159 billion USD, up 23.5% year-on-year but down 19.7% month-on-month, respectively. Bangladesh's knitted apparel exports in May moved up by 27.6% year-on-year to 1.743 billion USD, down 17.9% month-on-month, while Bangladesh's woven apparel rose by 18.9% year-on-year but down 21.9% month-on-month. 

In May, Bangladesh's home textile exports also showed a large decline compared with the same period of last year, but still increased by 75.7% compared with the same period in 2019, indicating that Bangladesh's home textile exports have performed more prominently in recent years, while apparel exports declined slightly compared with the same period in 2019. This is the first negative growth since August last year compared with the same period in 2019, and it is expected that the growth rate of Bangladesh's apparel exports will gradually slow down in the later period.

Bangladesh's apparel were mainly exported to Europe and the United States. From March to April, EU and US apparel retail sales still grew well compared with the same period last year. Although the growth rate has dropped to less than 10% in Mar-Apr, it still maintained a growth rate of around 8%, indicating that it was still growing. It's just that the time for rapid growth has passed. The growth rate of EU and US apparel demand has weakened, thus affecting Bangladesh's apparel exports. In May, Bangladesh's apparel exports still grew by more than 20% compared with the same period last year, and the overall performance was still good. However, according to the market feedback from Bangladesh's major imports origins of textile raw materials and semi-finished products, such as India, Vietnam and Pakistan, new orders for Bangladesh's textiles and apparel are also gradually decreasing.