Bangladesh’s position in the world garment trade has come under fresh challenge. Although the pace of global market expansion has increased, the country’s ready-made garment (RMG) sector has been unable to keep step with that growth. At the same time, its share of the international market has fallen, and its main competitor Vietnam has come very close to Bangladesh in export value.
According to the latest data from the World Trade Organization (WTO), global garment exports rose by 4.46 percent this year. Bangladesh’s growth, by contrast, was just 0.89 percent — about five times lower than the international average. Yet in 2024 the situation was entirely different, when the country increased exports at nearly three times the rate of the world market. As a result, although the international market has expanded, Bangladesh has not been able to take the expected advantage.
WTO statistics show that this slow growth has also affected the country’s share of the global market. Where Bangladesh’s share was 7 percent in 2024, in the space of just one year that trend has reversed, falling to 6.76 percent. The country’s garment industry has this time lost a large part of the progress it made the previous year. Meanwhile, Vietnam, Bangladesh’s biggest rival, is rapidly narrowing the gap. According to WTO data, the value of Bangladesh’s garment exports in 2025 stood at $38.82 billion, while over the same period Vietnam’s exports were $37.51 billion. The gap between the two countries is now just $1.31 billion, whereas in 2024 the difference was $2.54 billion and in 2023 it was $4.67 billion. The distance between the two countries has also narrowed significantly in terms of market share: Bangladesh’s share is currently 6.76 percent and Vietnam’s 6.53 percent. Market analysts believe that if the current export-growth trend continues, Vietnam could overtake Bangladesh as early as next year.
Analysis of WTO data further shows that in 2025 Vietnam and Cambodia became the main drivers of change in the global market. For a long time, when China’s market share shrank, other Asian exporting countries benefited; but this time that picture has changed. Although China’s garment exports fell by 4.92 percent, Cambodia and Vietnam are capturing a large part of that market. In this period Cambodia’s growth was 16.88 percent and Vietnam’s 10.53 percent, while Bangladesh was unable to make expected use of that opportunity to capture the market.
Mohiuddin Rubel, a former director of the BGMEA and founder and chief executive officer of Bangladesh Apparel Voice, told Amar Desh that the picture of global market expansion being seen was mainly not due to a rise in demand, but to a rise in product prices. Even so, he said, Bangladesh had been unable to capture its desired share of the market that had grown, despite the potential. Vietnam had got ahead of Bangladesh in catching the orders shifting away from China, he said, because of strong advantages such as its free trade agreements (FTAs), lower lead times, better port management and an uninterrupted supply chain. Although Vietnam was making rapid progress, he said, the foundation of Bangladesh’s garment industry was still very strong, and if government policy support and a business-friendly environment could be ensured, Bangladesh’s position in the international market could be strengthened further.
In recent times, Bangladesh’s RMG exports have seen sharp falls in both major markets, Europe and the United States. According to data from the EU statistics agency Eurostat, Bangladesh’s garment exports to the European Union in the January-April period this year fell 19.33 percent to 608.62 crore euros (about 6.09 billion euros), down from 754.47 crore euros in the same period a year earlier. Over the same period, data from the US-based OTEXA shows that Bangladesh’s garment exports to the United States fell 11.24 percent to 298 crore dollars (about $2.98 billion). In April alone, export earnings fell 17.21 percent. Meanwhile, the Export Promotion Bureau has recommended setting an export-earnings target of $58 billion for the new 2026-27 financial year. In the current global situation, market participants have advised giving importance to expanding the markets of other export products alongside garments in order to achieve that target.
বাংলায় মূল প্রতিবেদন পড়ুন · Read the original Bengali report