Four challenges have been faced by the readymade garment industry in the last decade. The Tazreen Fashions fire in 2012 and the Rana Plaza collapse the following year led to a temporary slump in garment exports. However, due to a lot of work to improve the working environment in garment factories, the confidence of buyers has returned. Exports also increase. The garment industry has been going through tough times due to the covid pandemic. Then the business turned around again. Due to the Russia-Ukraine war, the country’s garment sector is under another challenge.
Despite all this, exports of ready-made garments increased by 2.30 times between 2013 and 2022. In the 10 months of this year (January-October), ready-made clothes worth 3 thousand 877 million dollars were exported. This export is 5.75 percent more than the same period last year.
In addition to the increase in exports, the business of the garment sector has also consolidated. Dependence on conventional markets such as the United States, the European Union (EU) and Canada has also decreased somewhat. Exports to new markets like Japan, Australia, Russia, India, South Korea, China are increasing. New markets accounted for 16 percent of total apparel exports last year.
According to data from the World Trade Organization (WTO), China had the largest market share (market share) in exports of ready-made garments in the world market last year, at 31.7 percent. Then the position of Bangladesh, the share was 7.9 percent. In addition, the share of Vietnam is 6.1 percent, Turkey is 3.5 percent and India is 3.1 percent.
