/Finance Bangladesh’s garment exports to China increase by %

As demand for low-priced clothes from middle-income consumers remains high, Bangladesh’s clothing exports to China increased by 26% year-on-year in the 2014-2015 fiscal year, reaching US$304.24 million.
According to recent reports from foreign media, according to data from the Bangladesh Export Promotion Agency, exports of knitwear reached US$141.8 million and exports of knitted products reached US$163.14 million. In the 2013-2014 fiscal year, Bangladesh’s total apparel exports to China reached US$241.37 million.
China has implemented zero tariffs on 4,721 products from Bangladesh, most of which are clothing products. Therefore, Chinese retailers have used Bangladesh as a purchasing location since April 2011.
China’s demand for Bangladesh’s cheap knitwear such as sweaters and white textiles such as T-shirts is very high. Not only Chinese companies, but other large retailers such as Walmart, Tesco and Metro also purchase goods from Bangladesh.
Due to Bangladesh’s preferential tariffs and low production costs, Chinese consumers can save up to 15%.
China is the world’s largest clothing supplier. Now China has shifted its focus to high-end clothing and technology products, providing Bangladesh with opportunities to export low-priced products, said Shahidullah Azim, vice president of the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association.
“China has become a major market for us, and our clothing exports to China will soon exceed the US$1 billion mark.” He also said: “China’s clothing market has a total value of US$178 billion. If we can account for 10% of it, 1%, the export volume to China is nearly 18 billion US dollars a year.”
Local clothing manufacturers will participate in an international trade fair in Shanghai in October to further explore the Chinese market.
“Bangladesh remains an important player in the market for making some basic clothing products, and the demand for these clothing is high among middle-income consumers.”
Bangladesh also occupies a place in the Japanese market. Bangladesh’s clothing exports to Japan reached US$652.55 million in the last fiscal year, up from US$100 million five years ago.