European Union Garment Imports Climb 20.97% in 2022

In 2022, the European Union’s garment imports from the world climbed 20.97 percent to reach US $103.09 billion as against $85.23 billion in 2021 and which stood at $90.53 billion in 2018.

Quoting EUROSTAT statistics, the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers & Exporters Association (BGMEA) said while, EU’s apparel imports from Bangladesh has grown at a CAGR of 9.42 percent, those from other countries in the world rose at a CAGR of 4.31 percent.

EU imported apparel totaling to $22.89 billion from Bangladesh in 2022, compared to $16.87 billion in 2021 and $16.44 billion in 2018.

“With 22.20 percent share in value terms, Bangladesh remains the second largest apparel import source for the EU after China,” BGMEA added.

EU’s import from China reached $30.14 billion in 2022 from $25.76 billion in 2021 and $27.20 billion in 2018.

In terms of quantity, EU’s clothing import from Bangladesh also increased by 21.20 percent year on year.

However, in terms of quantity, Bangladesh’s share at 28.90 percent has crossed the share of China at 28.46 percent in 2022 and gained the top position for the very first time in EU.

With 11.62 percent share Turkey ranked as the third largest apparel import source for EU which posted 10.09 percent year-on-year growth in 2022 at $11.98 billion.

On the other hand, EU’s import from India too grew at $4.87 billion in 2022 from $4.01 billion in 2021 and $4.60 billion in 2018.

“Yet, despite growth in imports, the share of India in EU clothing imports has declined to 4.72 percent in 2022 from 5.08 percent in 2018,” BGMEA noted.

EU’s import from Vietnam also increased by 35.28 percent to $4.57 billion in 2022 from $3.37 billion in 2021 and also managed to increase its share to 4.43 percent 2022 from 3.68 percent in 2018.