Export earnings from US market in the January-October period of 2015 grew by 11.40 per cent to $4.84 billion compared with that of $4.34 billion in the same period a year ago, according to the data released by the Office of Textiles and Apparels under the US commerce department.

Bangladesh witnessed its readymade garment export earnings from the United States in the 10 months increase by 11.14 per cent to $4.66 billion from $4.19 billion in the same period of the previous year. This is despite the country not enjoying the GSP+ status to the US.

Bangladesh is the third largest apparel exporting country to the US after China and Vietnam. Apparel export earnings of Vietnam from US in the first 10 months of 2015 grew by 13.86 per cent to $9.03 billion from $7.93.billion in the same period of the year 2014, the data showed. Apparel exports of China to the US market in January-July period of this year grew by 2.37 per cent to $26.23 billion from $25.62 billion in the same period of last year.

However, Bangladeshi exporters fear that the export growth of Vietnam to the US market could witness a substantial increase more after the implementation of the TPP. Even many western players are already shifting their focus from Bangladesh to Vietnam keeping the TPP implementation in sight. On the other hand, Bangladesh is exploring new export destinations such as Russia, South Africa and Brazil.

According to the US data, India’s apparel exports to the US market in the January-October period of this year grew by 7.52 per cent to $3.16 billion from $2.94 billion in the same period of last year.

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