As China shad slowed down on its apparel export to the European Union (EU) and the United States (US), Vietnam has filled the vacuum with higher trade volume while Bangladesh failed to tap the full advantage.

An official data has revealed that Vietnam has posted higher growth in its apparel trade on the two western markets in recent months. On the other hand, Chinese clothing exports to the EU and the US faced almost a double-digit negative growth during the first half of the current calendar year.

Apparel exports from Bangladesh to the US in the first seven months of this year registered a 1.10 per cent growth while that of Vietnam registered a 3.15 per cent growth in the same period of 2015.

While Vietnam roped in $6.13 billion from the US market in January-July period this year, Bangladesh lagged far behind with $3.23 billion, according to a data of Otexa, an American research website. Though Vietnam's export to the EU market is significantly lower than Bangladesh's volume, its growth is higher.

Shipments of apparel products including knit and woven from Bangladesh to the EU stood at $5.8 billion in January-April this year against $5.32 billion registered in the same period last year. Vietnam's exports were worth $1.04 billion to EU in the first four months of this year posting an 11.2 per cent growth over the same period last year.

Interestingly, industry-insiders said that Bangladesh enjoys GSP in the EU while Vietnam does not. But the latter faces less tariff compared to Bangladesh in the US market.
China's apparel shipments to the EU declined to $9.07 billion from $10.15 billion during the period under review as the country's clothing export drooped by 10.57 per cent, according to data compiled by Texprocil India.

Similarly, Chinese exports to the US amounted to $14.94 billion-a decline by 6.4 per cent from $16 billion in January-July period of 2015.