Record growth in US market as garment exports reach $13.75 billion in four months

Exports of readymade garments to the United States, Bangladesh's single largest market, grew encouragingly in the first four months of the current 2026-27 fiscal year. Meanwhile, growth in the European Union, the main regional market, slowed somewhat, while exports to non-traditional markets visibly picked up. Amid these divergent trends across the main markets, Bangladesh's garment sector has returned to an overall positive trajectory.

According to the latest data from the Export Promotion Bureau (EPB), total readymade garment (RMG) export earnings in the first four months of 2026-27 (July-October) reached 13.75 billion US dollars, up 5.82 percent from 12.99 billion dollars in the same period of the previous fiscal year (2025-26).

Knitwear played a bigger role than woven products in this overall export growth. Analysis of the data shows that knitwear exports rose 6.79 percent to 7.73 billion dollars in the four months under review, while woven garment exports rose 4.60 percent to 6.02 billion dollars. As a result, knitwear's share of Bangladesh's total garment exports has risen to 56.2 percent.

Year on year, garment export earnings rose by 756 million dollars. The largest part of this additional growth came from the United States, at 262.9 million dollars (35 percent of the total increase). Non-traditional markets contributed 201.8 million dollars (27 percent), the European Union 174.5 million dollars (23 percent), the United Kingdom 106.2 million dollars (14 percent) and Canada 10.6 million dollars.

Although the United States is the largest single-country destination for Bangladeshi garments, the European Union retained its position as the top region. In July-October, exports to the EU reached 6.43 billion dollars, up 2.79 percent from 6.26 billion dollars last year, although the EU's share of total exports slipped slightly from 48.17 percent to 46.79 percent.

Within the EU, Spain overtook Germany as the largest single market. Exports to Spain rose 13.36 percent to 1.448 billion dollars, while exports to Germany remained almost unchanged at 1.439 billion dollars.

On the other hand, Bangladesh's garment exports fell somewhat compared with last year in countries such as France, Italy, Denmark and Belgium.

Bangladesh achieved its fastest growth in the United States market. Exports to the US rose 10.16 percent to 2.85 billion dollars, lifting the US share of total garment exports to 20.73 percent.

Garment exports to the United Kingdom rose 6.92 percent to 1.64 billion dollars and to Canada 2.41 percent to 452.9 million dollars. At the same time, total exports to non-traditional markets rose 9.30 percent to 2.37 billion dollars, with the most notable jump in Turkey, up 107.05 percent to 206.5 million dollars.

Exports also rose to Japan, Mexico, the UAE, Brazil and South Africa, while markets in India, China, Russia and New Zealand saw some decline. The reduced over-dependence on the EU and the US, together with growth in non-traditional markets, is a positive sign of the overall diversification of Bangladesh's garment sector.

Bangladesh's overall export trade has maintained a positive trend in the current fiscal year. However, a leader of the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) stressed that to make this growth sustainable, ensuring desired profitability must go alongside higher product prices.

He said exports to the American market have done well in recent months because Bangladesh is in an advantageous position on tariff matters compared with other countries and the complications have been removed, and this trend is likely to continue.

He said the situation in the European market is not very good, because Europe itself is in an economic crisis, which has slowed growth in its market and affected its imports. But if things go well in Europe after dealing with the energy crisis and the current situation, exports there will gradually increase.

Noting that the relatively small or non-traditional markets performed well in the first three months of the year and that new possibilities are emerging, he said that after lagging for a long time, positive progress is now visible in non-traditional markets, and it is extremely important to carry this trend forward beyond Europe and America.

He said that although export conditions in the EU and Canada are fairly satisfactory, they are below the desired level, and according to the country's overall plan, export volumes need to increase much further.

While describing the positive export trend in the first four months of the year as good news, the entrepreneur-leader also gave a cautious response. He said rising export volumes driven only by higher input prices cannot be called entirely positive. The growth will be sustainable only when good profitability is added to it, so equal attention should be paid to how much profit is being earned rather than chasing growth alone.