As per Office of Textiles and Apparel (OTEXA) affiliated with the US Department of Commerce, Bangladesh's apparel export to the United States (US) grew 9.83 per cent year-on-year in 2019, strengthening its position as the third-largest supplier to the American market, after China and Vietnam.
Bangladesh collected nearly $6 billion from apparel export to the US from January to December, 2019 against $5.40 billion earnings in the corresponding period 2018. Export increased amidst a price hike of Bangladeshi ready-made garments, caused by the elimination of US Generalised System of Preferences (GSP) facility. Bangladesh has been operating without the facility since 2013.
Bangladesh's readymade garments export grew because of the ongoing US-China trade war, prompting both the countries to impose additional tariffs on their respective products, according to industry insiders.
Between January and December 2019, Bangladesh shipped 2.01 billion square meters of apparel to the US. The figure was 1.93 billion square meters in the previous calendar year.
