Bangladesh’s readymade garment (RMG) exports to the European Union declined by 13.65% year-on-year to 10.37 billion euros in January-July of 2026.
In the mentioned period, the EU imported apparel worth 51.61 billion euros, which saw a decline of 5.10% from 54.39 billion euros a year earlier, according to Eurostat data.
Although Bangladesh remained the EU’s second-largest apparel supplier after China, the gap widened further as China posted growth in an otherwise contracting market, showed data compiled by Bangladesh Apparel Voice.
Among the major suppliers, Bangladesh recorded the sharpest decline. Exporters attributed the decline to fall in demands, intensifying competition and domestic energy crisis.
In terms of volume, Bangladesh shipped 751.91 million kilograms of apparel to the EU in the January-July period of 2026, down 5.66% from 796.98 million kilograms recorded in the same period of 2025.
The steeper fall in value compared with volume indicates that Bangladeshi exporters received significantly lower unit prices during the period.
Moreover, the average unit price of Bangladeshi apparel on the EU market stood at 13.80 euros a kilogram, which was 8.47% lower than the 15.07 euros recorded in January-July of 2025.
Bangladesh’s unit price also remained the second lowest among the major suppliers after Pakistan’s 10.77 euros, against the EU average of 19.84 euros a kilogram.
By comparison, Vietnam’s unit price rose 11.76% to 29.00 euros and Cambodia’s 7.86% to 18.67 euros, while China’s edged down 2.18% to 20.20 euros.
Among major apparel exporters, China’s apparel exports to the EU rose 1.89% to 16.42 billion euros from 16.12 billion euros, making it the only major supplier apart from Vietnam to record growth during the period.
Among the other major suppliers, Turkey’s apparel exports to the EU fell 13.32% to 4.38 billion euros in the first six months of 2026 from 5.06 billion euros in the same period of 2025, while India’s declined 12.24% to 2.74 billion euros from 3.13 billion euros.
Cambodia’s shipments dropped 6.69% to 2.34 billion euros from 2.51 billion euros and Pakistan’s fell 11.81% to 1.96 billion euros from 2.22 billion euros.
Vietnam’s exports increased by 3.92% to 2.55 billion euros from 2.46 billion euros, taking it past Cambodia to become the EU’s fifth-largest apparel supplier during the period.
Exporters also urged adequate policy supports, like the competitors, to remain competitive on the EU markets, along with focus on market and product diversification, innovation and research.
Bangladesh’s RMG exports to the European Union reached 19.41 billion euros in 2025, witnessing a positive growth of 5.97% from 18.31 billion euros earned in 2024.