Export of woven and knitwear apparel to the US recorded 30% growth last fiscal overcoming a four-year recession. Import restriction on China by the US was seen as the main reason for the incremental growth of Bangladesh’s apparel exports to the US market. The country’s overall exports of woven garments and knitwear to US was recorded at $2631 million in 2005-06 fiscal, overtaking the $2198 million in the 2000-01 fiscal which was the highest in the MFA period. But Bangladesh is still to attain the share in the US apparel market that it did in 2001.

Exports of woven garments and knitwear to the US recorded a robust growth of 24% and 54% amounting to $2013 million and $618 million respectively during the 2005-06 fiscal, Export Promotion Bureau (EPB) sources said.

An official of the EPB said that the growth in both woven and knitwear exports to the US following the imposition of US import restrictions on China had approximately doubled compared to those in the first seven months of the post MFA period. He said that though many had apprehensions for the country’s apparel sector in a quota free period, apparel exports to the US had not decreased. Unnayan Onneshan, a research organisation recently published a paper on the US apparel market and said that Bangladesh had captured 6.26% market share in US woven imports, highest in 2001, although it was 5.83% in 2005.

EPB export statistics showed that apparel exports to US had continuously declined between the 2002 and 2004 fiscals, although apparel exports were continuously up in the post MFA period.