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BD’s share in global apparel export mkt reaches 6.46pc

Asjadul Kibria | August 02, 2018 00:00:00


The share of Bangladesh in the global apparel export market reached 6.46 per cent in 2017, according to the latest statistics released by the World Trade Organisation (WTO).

The country's share in the global export of apparel products was 6.36 per cent in 2016.

Annual exports of Bangladeshi apparel products increased by moderate 2.0 per cent to US$ 29.33 billion in 2017 from $ 28.22 billion in 2016, according to The World Trade Statistical Review 2018.

WTO released the review report on Monday in Geneva along with its two other flagship statistical publications -- Trade Profiles 2018 and World Tariff Profiles 2018.

The statistical review also showed that Bangladesh retained its rank as the third largest global exporter of clothing, followed by China and the European Union (EU).

Export of Chinese clothing items showed almost zero growth last year. The country also lost its global share which declined to 34.90 per cent in 2017 from 36.40 per cent in 2016.

Vietnam registered around 8.0 per cent growth in clothing export last year and inched to grasp 5.90 per cent global share which was 5.54 per cent in 2016.

The country ranked as fourth largest exporter of apparel in the world, followed by India whose share stood at 4.10 per cent with a modest annual export growth of 2.0 per cent last year.

Turkey, the fifth largest exporter of clothing, registered almost zero growth in its annual export.

The statistical review showed that the growth of exports of clothing across the world slowed down a bit which is reflected in moderate or zero growth in the half of top 10 exporters of clothing.

Among top 10 exporters of clothing, Indonesia registered 10 per cent growth last year while Cambodia registered 8.0 per cent growth.

The WTO review report also showed that clothing and textile contributed 4.0 per cent of global merchandise export in 2017.

Last year, Bangladesh also retained rank as the fifth largest importer of textile across the world.

The country imported textile products worth $ 9.41 billion from the rest of the world to meet its growing demand.

Import registered around 7.0 per cent growth last year and the country's share in global import of textile stood at 2.76 per cent.

28-nation European Union (EU) is the leading importer of both textile and clothing in the world. United States of America (USA) is the second largest importer of these two products globally.

Segregated statistics of individual countries of the EU is not available in the WTO report.

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