South Asian textile trade: Bangladesh's imports recover in 2024

Despite ongoing political unrest in Bangladesh, its yarn imports from India, the largest country in South Asia, increased significantly by 32.55 per cent in 2024, reaching $1,751.959 million. This marked a recovery from the decline seen in 2023, when yarn imports from India fell to $1,321.535 million, down from $1,578.542 million in 2022, according to Fibre2Fashion's market insight tool TexPro.

Bangladesh’s yarn imports from Pakistan followed a similar trend, declining in 2023 before rebounding in 2024. The imports were valued at $67.764 million in 2024, compared to $76.129 million in 2023 and $155.149 million in 2022. Meanwhile, yarn imports from Sri Lanka remained relatively small but showed fluctuations, amounting to $7.756 million in 2024, up from $3.341 million in 2023 but lower than the $4.511 million recorded in 2022.

As for Bangladesh’s fabric imports from India, they grew by 10.29 per cent in 2024, reaching $750.566 million, compared to $680.067 million in 2023. However, this was still lower than the $906.024 million recorded in 2022, indicating a decline in imports during 2023 before recovering in 2024.

Fabric imports from Pakistan followed a similar pattern, decreasing in 2023 before rising again in 2024. The country imported $453.569 million worth of fabric from Pakistan in 2024, up from $420.449 million in 2023 but still below the $571.908 million recorded in 2022. Additionally, Bangladesh’s fabric imports from Sri Lanka continued their downward trend, declining from $41.133 million in 2022 to $38.970 million in 2023 and further to $35.158 million in 2024, as per TexPro.

Fibre2Fashion News Desk (KUL)