Bangladesh has lost its second-largest apparel supplier position in the US market to China, as its garment exports to the country fell 4.43 percent in January-August.
China moved ahead despite a sharper 29.39 percent drop in its exports, while Bangladesh slipped to third place with a $240 million gap between the two countries.
According to the latest data from the US Office of Textiles and Apparel (OTEXA), Bangladesh exported $5.39 billion worth of garments to the US in the first eight months of the year.
China’s exports stood at $5.63 billion during the period, compared with $10.98 billion for market leader Vietnam.
Bangladesh had held the second position through July, when its exports to the US had declined 6.5 percent. The decline eased to 4.43 percent by August.
The shift came amid a broader contraction in the US apparel market. US imports fell 7.42 percent to $49 billion during January-August.
In volume terms, US apparel imports declined even more, by 8.98 percent, pushing up the average import value per square metre by 1.71 percent.
Bangladesh, however, saw its apparel export volume fall nearly 3 percent to 1.76 billion square metres.
Its average export price also declined 1.73 percent to $3.07 per square metre, according to the OTEXA data.
China continued to enjoy a substantial price advantage. Its average apparel export price fell 9.93 percent to $1.47 per square metre, less than half Bangladesh’s price.
Among the major suppliers, India’s apparel exports to the US fell 26.44 percent during the period, while Pakistan’s declined 3.83 percent.
Indonesia and Cambodia bucked the trend, with their exports rising 2.58 percent and 6.91 percent, respectively.
Vietnam retained its top position despite a 0.76 percent decline in exports. Its average export price stood at $3.54 per square metre, down 0.58 percent from a year earlier.
Pakistan’s average export price was lower than Bangladesh’s at $2.78 per square metre.
The latest figures show that Bangladesh is facing pressure on both export value and unit prices in its biggest apparel market, even as the overall US market contracts.