Global export demand remained bearish during second half of 2022 due to Russia-Ukraine war and high inflation in the developed world. But Japan’s apparel imports from Bangladesh defied the trend. The import increased by 15.02 per cent to $1,340.256 million last year over the previous year. The upward trend remained intact in the first quarter of the current year also.

Japan’s inbound shipment of apparel from Bangladesh increased from $1,165.457 million in 2021 to $1,340.256 million in 2022, according to Fibre2Fashion’s market insight tool TexPro. The import grew to $1,167.965 million in 2019 against $1,122.539 million in 2018. But it eased down to $1,033.232 million in 2020 due to COVID-19.

On a quarterly basis, the import increased to $363.939 million in Q1,2023 against the shipment of $333.741 million in Q4, 2022 and $354.094 million in Q1, 2022. The trade remained volatile as it eased down to $295.432 million in Q2, 2022 but rose to $358.277 million in Q3, 2022. It further slipped to $333.741 million in Q4, 2022, as per TexPro.

The import of fabric from Bangladesh also increased to $1,733.501 million in 2022 from $1,108.184 million in 2021. Earlier, it was noted at $1,689.953 million in 2020, $1,843.536 million in 2019 and $2,841.596 million in 2018.

As per TexPro, Bangladesh was the third largest apparel supplier for Japan. But its share was just 5.37 per cent in Japan’s total apparel import worth $24.953 billion during 2022. China was the top supplier with 55.32 per cent share, followed by Vietnam with a share of 15.85 per cent of the total inbound shipment.

Fibre2Fashion News Desk (KUL)

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Japan's apparel imports from Bangladesh defy global bearish trend

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