Bangladesh’s apparel shipments to the United States edged up in the first 11 months of 2019 by 9.47 per cent. Primarily, the tariff war between the US and China played a vital role in raising shipments to the US. China, the largest apparel supplier to the US, saw its shipments slump during the period, in what can be viewed as a direct impact of the 25 per cent tariff. US total imports from the world have been declining since September but have been increasing from Bangladesh. However, US garment shipments from India and Vietnam, both Bangladesh’s competitors in the global apparel trade, has also grown.

The US is Bangladesh’s main export destination for apparel. And the country’s shipments to the US increased just nominally in the first two weeks of 2020. The average price of Bangladesh garment products though has decreased 4.50 per cent from a year earlier. Bangladesh’s earnings from garment exports are on the slow lane due to the appreciation of the currency against the dollar, the lack of diversified products and the rise of other competing countries, particularly of Vietnam and Cambodia. Between the months of July and December 2019 Bangladesh’s apparel shipments fell 6.21 per cent.