Bangladesh Garment Export Statistics

Bangladesh’s ready made garment sector is the golden stitch in the nation’s economic fabric, earning about $47 billion in FY23, accounting for 84.6 percent of exports, contributing roughly 10 percent of GDP and holding nearly 7.9 percent of the global market with knitwear delivering especially high value addition, yet that concentration of growth and bank exposure means the country must sustain productivity gains and diversify if it hopes to reach the ambitious $100 billion target by 2030 without unraveling.

Bangladesh's garment industry keeps one foot firmly in Europe, which bought just over half its exports and where Bangladesh holds roughly 22 percent of the apparel market, while the other foot stretches toward new shores as the United States is the largest single-country buyer at $8.51 billion and Germany follows at $6.68 billion, non‑traditional markets surged 31 percent to $8.37 billion led by Japan, India, Australia and Turkey, and duty-free access plus EU Everything But Arms provide a vital safety net even as a nearly 47 percent collapse in exports to Russia underscores persistent geopolitical risk.

Bangladesh’s garment sector remains cotton centric with staples like trousers and t shirts dominating exports, yet it is quietly trading basic shirts for smarter suits, denim and activewear as man made fibers, substantial yarn and cotton imports for woven production, strong local knit fabric capacity and untapped technical textiles push a pragmatic diversification up the value chain.

From hosting the world's largest number of LEED-certified factories including 77 Platinum sites and the highest-scoring plant, to saving 28 billion liters of water via PaCT, deploying rooftop solar and biological ETPs, achieving widespread ETP and ZDHC adoption, enlisting over 500 factories in the Green Button initiative, recycling 1,300 tonnes in a pilot, boosting ISO 14001 uptake and fire safety beyond compliance, and pledging 30 percent carbon cuts plus recycled fiber and 100 percent digital wage goals by 2030, Bangladesh's garment sector is making the audacious but persuasive case that export muscle and serious environmental and social reform can go hand in hand.

Bangladesh's ready-made garment industry is a global powerhouse, employing about 4.4 million people, roughly 55 to 60 percent of them women, and operating some 4,000 factories concentrated around Dhaka that together occupy over 60 million square feet and have the installed capacity to produce more than $60 billion of apparel and 600 million denim pieces annually; it is supported by roughly 400 spinning mills and over 800 weaving mills, represented by BGMEA and BKMEA membership bases of about 2,300 and 1,600 respectively, has raised the minimum wage to BDT 12,500, put over 800,000 workers on digital payrolls and collected more than $60 million in a central welfare fund, and has remediated 98 percent of Accord-era safety violations while the RMG Sustainability Council monitors more than 1,800 factories and modernized machinery use has risen about 15 percent since 2020, yet the sector still bears a paradoxical stitch as women hold only about 5 percent of managerial roles and union coverage reaches only around 1,200 factories.