Faruque Hassan, President, BGMEA, hopes increased vaccinations in the US and reopening of retail markets will revive Bangladesh’s garment exports by October this year. Hasan also hopes store reopening in Europe will fuel demand for Bangladesh made garment items. In first 10 months of current fiscal year, Bangladesh’s apparel exports increased by 6.24 per cent year-on-year to $26 billion, he informs.

Of this, knitwear exports accounted for $13.99 billion registering a 15.34 per cent year-on-year growth while woven exports declined by 2.71 per cent to $12 billion, Hassan adds. Demand for knitwear is increasing as people are spending more time indoors, he adds further. Currently, Bangladesh exports $6.5 billion worth of garment items to the US annually. And to the EU it exports garments worth $21 billion annually.