CPD RMG Study Stitching a better future for Bangladesh
Published in the Financial Express on 29, July 2017
Asjadul Kibria
Bangladesh registered the highest growth in apparel exports in 2016 among top eight clothing exporters of the world, according to the latest statistics of the World Trade Organisation (WTO).
The growth rate was 6.07 per cent in the past year and the share of Bangladeshi apparel in the world export market also increased to 6.36 per cent in 2016 from 5.9 per cent in 2015 and 5.1 per cent in 2014.
The clothing export growth of Bangladesh also came down to 6.07 per cent in 2016 from 8.0 per cent in 2015.
Among the top 10 exporters, Cambodia, however, registered slightly higher growth (6.10 per cent) than Bangladesh in 2016 while the share of the country was only 1.42 per cent in the global market.
China, the top exporter, registered a negative growth rate of 7.0 per cent in the past year and its market share also declined significantly to 36.4 per cent from 39.3 per cent in 2015.
The World Trade Statistical Review 2017, released by the World Trade Organisation (WTO) on Friday, unveiled this information.
The review provided a detailed analysis of the latest developments in world trade.
According to the statistical review, Bangladesh ranked as the third largest clothing exporters after China and the European Union (EU) in the past year.
The EU, an economic union of 28 European countries, occupied 25.2 per cent global share of clothing exports. The WTO ranked the EU as the second largest clothing exporter, but did not provide segregate data on clothing export status of EU member countries.
Thus, Bangladesh may be considered the second largest exporter of clothing.
The export growth of Vietnam also slowed down to 5.0 per cent in the past year while the country registered double-digit growth in 2015. Nevertheless, its share in the global clothing market increased to 5.54 per cent in 2016 from 4.90 per cent in 2015.
WTO statistics also showed that clothing export from India declined by 2.0 per cent in the last year while its share also marginally shrank to 4.0 per cent in 2016 from 4.10 per cent in 2015.
