The effects of the COVID-19 epidemic have had a negative influence on Bangladesh’s garment exports to the United States. According to data from the US Department of Commerce, the price of imported apparel in the United States decreased to 2.60 dollars in February of this year, compared to 2.95 dollars in the SMEs of February 2020.
US imported $5.39 billion worth of clothing in February this year, compared to $5.91 billion in February 2020. During the epidemic last year, prices of Bangladeshi-produced t-shirts fell in the US market, despite the fact that the same t-shirt made in Vietnam cost nearly twice as much in the US market. A dozen cotton T-shirts from Bangladesh cost $17.99 in 2020, down from $22.43 in 2019, while a similar product from Vietnam cost $31.9 in 2020, down from $38.2 in 2019.
RMG’s export earnings were $23.49 billion in the third quarter of fiscal year 2020-21, down from $25.95 billion in the same quarter of fiscal year 2018-19, indicating a 9.49 percent reduction and a $2.46 billion shortfall.
Knitwear exports struggled to maintain a 0.35 percent increase in March 2021 over March 2019; the average growth of knitwear exports from July to March 2020-21 is -1.15 percent compared to July to March 2018-19. Woven clothes are having their worst year ever, with exports falling by double digits since August 2020, and woven exports falling by 27.70 percent in March 2021 compared to March 2019. Between 2021 and 2019, the nine-month average growth rate was -17.62 percent. The downward price trend continues, with a 5.11 percent decrease in unit price in March 2021 compared to March 2019.
