The latest data released by the Office of Textiles and Apparel (OTEXA) for the period of January-August 2023 shows that USA's apparel import from the world has declined by 22.77% to US$ 53.45 billion from US$ 69.21 billion in the same period of 2022. In terms of quantity, the import has declined by 26.80%.

USA's apparel import from Bangladesh also dropped significantly by 21.77% year-over-year to US$ 5.18 billion from US$ 6.62 billion. It has also declined by 29.10% in terms of quantity.

However, the unit price per SME of USA's import from the world has increased by 5.50% in January-Aug 2023 to US$ 3.24 from US$ 3.07 in January-Aug 2022. For Bangladesh, the unit price per SME was US$ 3.27 during the mentioned eight months which was USD$ 2.97 during January-August of 2022, that means unit price increased by 10.35% year-over-year.

The decline in USA's apparel import is indicative of the slowdown in retail business and overall economy. Though the decline in import from Bangladesh is relatively less in monetary value compared to China and Vietnam, the urge for avoiding dependence on few major markets cannot be justified enough to ensure growth sustenance. However, USA remains Bangladesh's major market and there is still scope to further specialize capacity for this market.