Bangladesh’s ready-made garment (RMG) exports to the European Union (EU) faced a notable downturn during the first 11 months of the fiscal year 2025-26. Despite a robust month-on-month recovery in May, persistent demand weaknesses across major European destinations dragged overall performance down, according to the latest data from the Export Promotion Bureau (EPB).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u200bApparel shipments to the EU block totaled $17.36 billion<\/strong> during the July\u2013May period of FY26, marking a $640 million decline<\/strong> compared to the same period in the previous fiscal year. This slump stands in sharp contrast to the high growth recorded in FY25, when total exports to the region peaked at $19.71 billion. Industry experts have pointed out that the previous year\u2019s growth was primarily inflated by higher unit prices rather than actual growth in order volumes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u200bThe May Upswing: A Temporary Relief?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n \u200bThe industry experienced a welcome surge in May, with exports climbing to $1.82 billion<\/strong>\u2014a significant 19.6% jump<\/strong> from April\u2019s $1.52 billion. This represented the second-highest monthly total for FY26, trailing only January\u2019s $1.88 billion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u200bHowever, EPB Director Alamgir Hossain noted that while the recent figures suggest a gradual recovery, the early months of the fiscal year suffered deep cuts that the May surge could not entirely offset. Exports experienced sharp drops throughout the year, plummeting from $1.98 billion in July down to $1.34 billion in September, followed by similar stagnation in February ($1.35 billion) and March ($1.33 billion).<\/p>\n\n\n\n Divergent Realities Across European Markets<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n \u200bPerformance varied heavily across individual destinations within the trading bloc during May:<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u200bGermany:<\/strong> Retained its position as the largest single market, accounting for 22.5% of Bangladesh’s EU apparel trade. Exports rose to $409.3 million from April’s $316.2 million, though still lower than July’s peak of $471.8 million.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u200bSpain & France:<\/strong> Spain secured the second spot with imports worth $300.1 million (up from April’s $285.5 million), while France climbed to $190.1 million.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u200bThe Netherlands & Poland:<\/strong> Shipments reached $210.7 million and $197.7 million respectively, showcasing resilient demand.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u200bThe Nordics:<\/strong> Sweden recorded a fiscal-year high of $94.1 million, and Denmark posted stronger sourcing activity at $82 million.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u200bProlonged Downturn and Eroding Competitiveness<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n \u200bRakibul Alam Chowdhury, former vice president of the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA), cautioned against premature optimism.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u200b”We have been experiencing negative growth for most of the last 10 months. April and May showed some improvement, partly due to delayed orders linked to election-related disruptions in key markets, but the overall trend remains negative,” Chowdhury said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u200bHe attributed the broader slowdown to persistent global inflation, active conflicts, and elevated retail prices, which have collectively diluted consumer purchasing power overseas. He also warned that local exporters are losing their edge as global competitors receive robust policy incentives and financial safety nets from their respective governments to cushion macroeconomic shocks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u200bStructural Bottlenecks and Shifting Sourcing Dynamics<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u200bTaimur Rahman, director of Mostafa Garments Industry, added that changing global geopolitics have compounded regional pressures. When tariff volatility complicated shipments to the US market, global apparel suppliers aggressively redirected their focus toward Europe, significantly escalating price competition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u200bFurthermore, local structural hurdles continue to bottleneck response times. Rahman highlighted that international buyers are increasingly shifting toward customized clothing and unique accessories. Fulfilling these requests often requires importing specific raw materials that are not currently covered under Bangladesh’s outdated bonded warehouse classifications, causing customs delays.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u200bContinued Reliance on a Single Bloc<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n \u200bDespite state-level talk of market diversification, the garment sector\u2019s dependence on Europe remains exceptionally high. In May, total exports to the EU across all sectors stood at $1.97 billion\u2014and ready-made garments alone comprised 92%<\/strong> of that figure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u200bWhile the May rebound offers a brief sigh of relief for manufacturing units across Dhaka and Chattogram, industry insiders maintain that it is still far too early to declare a structural turnaround for the country’s primary export earner.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Bangladesh’s ready-made garment (RMG) exports to the European Union (EU) faced a notable downturn during the first 11 months of the fiscal year 2025-26. Despite a robust month-on-month recovery in May, persistent demand weaknesses across major European destinations dragged overall performance down, according to the latest data from the Export Promotion Bureau (EPB). \u200bApparel shipments […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2322,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[48,46,49,57,44],"tags":[779,868,872,873,871,869,870],"class_list":{"0":"post-2321","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-economy","8":"category-bangladesh","9":"category-international","10":"category-latest","11":"category-national","12":"tag-bangladesh","13":"tag-european-union-eu","14":"tag-foreign-policy-bangladesh","15":"tag-garment-industry","16":"tag-germany-bangladesh","17":"tag-rmg-export","18":"tag-rmg-exports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/en.thenationix.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2321","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/en.thenationix.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/en.thenationix.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/en.thenationix.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/en.thenationix.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2321"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/en.thenationix.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2321\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2323,"href":"https:\/\/en.thenationix.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2321\/revisions\/2323"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/en.thenationix.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2322"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/en.thenationix.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2321"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/en.thenationix.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2321"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/en.thenationix.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2321"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}