Bangladesh garment exports in 2026: markets, products and world share

Bangladesh exported US$38.70 billion of ready-made garments in the fiscal year to June 2026 (FY2025-26), according to the Export Promotion Bureau (EPB). That was 1.64% less than the year before and 80.6% of everything the country exported. In world terms, the World Trade Organization (WTO) puts Bangladesh at 6.8% of global clothing exports in 2025, second only to China among single countries. Almost half of the garments go to the European Union, a fifth to the United States and just over a tenth to the United Kingdom. This page puts those figures in one place, with the year and source for each, and explains what they mean when you are choosing where to produce.

The headline numbers for FY2025-26

Bangladesh’s fiscal year runs from July to June, so “FY2025-26” means 1 July 2025 to 30 June 2026. The EPB publishes the official export figures, and the garment makers’ association BGMEA republishes the garment lines. For FY2025-26 the EPB summary sheet gives:

• Total garment (RMG) exports: US$38,701 million, down 1.64% from US$39,347 million in FY2024-25.
• Knitwear (HS chapter 61): US$20,624 million, down 2.53%.
• Woven garments (HS chapter 62): US$18,077 million, down 0.61%.
• All goods exports: US$48,002 million, down 0.58%, so garments were 80.6% of the total.

The year ended better than it ran. June 2026 garment exports were US$3,388 million, 21.5% above June 2025. The new fiscal year has started in the same direction: for July and August 2026 the EPB reports garment exports of US$7,496 million, 5.1% more than the same two months of 2025. Two months is too short to call a trend, but it is the latest official reading.

Knitwear and woven garments

Bangladesh’s export statistics split garments by customs chapter. Knitwear (chapter 61) is anything made from knitted fabric: t-shirts, polo shirts, sweatshirts, hoodies, sweaters, leggings, underwear and babywear. Woven garments (chapter 62) are made from woven fabric: shirts, trousers, jeans, jackets, coats and woven dresses. The chapter depends on how the fabric is made, not on what the garment looks like.

In FY2025-26 knitwear was 53.3% of garment exports and woven 46.7%. Knitwear has been the larger half in each of the last four fiscal years in BGMEA’s table. Woven exports held up better in FY2025-26, falling 0.61% against 2.53% for knitwear.

How the totals moved since FY2022-23

The table starts at FY2022-23 on purpose. In July 2024 Bangladesh Bank corrected its export figures after finding that multiple entries, equal to about 20% of the dataset, were problematic, and the gap between its figures and the EPB’s had passed US$12 billion in FY2022-23. Older headlines, including some that quote much higher garment totals, were published before that correction, so they are not comparable with the table above. When you see a Bangladesh export figure, check which year and which basis it uses.

The pattern over four years is flat, not falling: a dip in FY2023-24, a strong recovery in FY2024-25, and a small decline in FY2025-26 that was concentrated in the European Union.

Where the garments go: markets and shares

The EPB’s country-wise data for FY2025-26 shows how concentrated the customer base is. The shares below are calculated from the EPB’s knitwear and woven columns; the year-on-year changes are as reported from the same EPB data by The Business Standard.

Inside the EU, the largest buyers were Germany (US$4.38 billion), Spain (US$3.60 billion), the Netherlands (US$2.17 billion), France (US$1.97 billion), Poland (US$1.87 billion) and Italy (US$1.42 billion). Germany alone took almost exactly as much as the UK, but its purchases fell 11.5% on the year. Among the markets Bangladesh calls non-traditional, Japan took US$1.14 billion, Australia US$0.74 billion and India US$0.57 billion.

For brands in these markets, our pages for EU brands, US brands and UK brands cover the duty, labelling and shipping side.

What Bangladesh looks like from the importer’s side

Export figures tell you what Bangladesh shipped. Import figures tell you how much of your own market Bangladesh supplies. They use calendar years and local currencies, so they never match the EPB exactly.

• European Union. Eurostat’s trade database records EU imports of clothing (HS chapters 61 and 62) from outside the EU of €94.6 billion in 2025. Bangladesh supplied €19.47 billion of that, or 20.6%, second to China at €30.40 billion (32.1%) and well ahead of Türkiye at €8.36 billion (8.8%). Bangladesh’s share was 20.3% in both 2023 and 2024.
• United Kingdom. HMRC’s overseas trade statistics record £16.18 billion of clothing imports in 2025 under customs chapters 61 and 62, including imports from EU countries. China supplied £3.25 billion (20.1%) and Bangladesh £3.16 billion (19.5%), up from 17.2% in 2024 and 17.0% in 2023. The gap between the two has almost closed.
• United States. Sheng Lu of the University of Delaware, analysing data from the US Office of Textiles and Apparel (OTEXA), reports that US apparel imports fell 1.7% by value in 2025. Vietnam became the largest supplier with 21.5%, China fell to 13.7%, and the top three, China, Vietnam and Bangladesh, together held 45.7%. That leaves Bangladesh at roughly 10.5% of the US market for the year. In December 2025 alone its share was 10.0%, above China’s 9.6%.

So across the three big import markets, Bangladesh is the second-largest supplier to the EU, a close second in the UK, and third in the US.

Which products Bangladesh exports most

The EPB’s commodity-wise data breaks garment exports down by four-digit HS heading. Four headings make up 62.4% of the total.

T-shirts are the single largest line, at US$7.07 billion in FY2025-26. The two woven headings 6203 and 6204 are where trousers sit, alongside jackets, suits, skirts and dresses. Heading 6110 is the knitted pullover heading, which includes sweaters. Specialist lines are far smaller: knitted track-suits, ski-suits and swimwear (heading 6112) came to US$0.10 billion, against US$7.07 billion for t-shirts. Basics dominate, which is worth knowing before you assume every product has the same depth of supply. Our product pages set out what we make in each category.

Bangladesh’s share of world clothing exports

The WTO’s statistical tables for 2025 put world clothing exports at about US$574 billion (our calculation from Bangladesh’s value and share). The leading exporters were:

One caveat changes the ranking. The WTO also lists the European Union as a single exporter at US$176.7 billion, or 30.8% of the world, but that figure includes trade between EU countries, such as Italy shipping to France. Counted that way the EU comes first. Counting single countries, Bangladesh is second. Counting only the EU’s exports to the rest of the world, the EU’s US$44.2 billion is slightly ahead of Bangladesh’s US$38.8 billion.

The longer run shows how Bangladesh got here. Its WTO share of world clothing exports was 2.6% in 2000, 2.5% in 2005 and 4.2% in 2010. The WTO’s 2023 review gave it 7.9% in 2022, the high point. By 2025 it was 6.8%, and Vietnam, growing more than ten times faster in 2025, was only US$1.3 billion behind. How Bangladesh, Vietnam, China and India compare for a buyer is covered in our guide to Bangladesh vs Vietnam vs China vs India.

How to read these numbers without being misled

• “What percentage of clothes are made in Bangladesh?” The honest answer is about 6.8% of the world’s clothing exports by value in 2025. That is not a share of all clothes made: garments made and sold inside China or India never enter trade statistics. It is also a share of value, not of pieces. No official source publishes a world share by piece count.
• Fiscal year or calendar year. The EPB’s US$38.70 billion is July 2025 to June 2026. The WTO’s US$38.8 billion is calendar 2025. They are different periods that happen to land close together.
• Export value or import value. Bangladesh records what leaves, in US dollars. The EU and UK record what arrives, in euros and pounds, at a different time. That is why the EPB shows exports to the EU down 3.3% in FY2025-26 while Eurostat shows EU imports from Bangladesh up in calendar 2025.
• Corrected and uncorrected data. Anything published before the July 2024 correction may overstate Bangladesh’s exports.

What the numbers mean for a buyer

A few practical conclusions follow from the data.

• Bangladesh is a volume specialist in a small number of products. T-shirts, knitted pullovers and sweaters, and the two woven headings that hold trousers and jackets made up 62.4% of garment export value in FY2025-26. If your range sits in those headings, you are buying what the country ships most of.
• Europe is the core customer. About 60% of garment exports went to the EU and UK combined in FY2025-26. Producing for European buyers is the main business of the industry, not a sideline, and Bangladesh supplies about a fifth of the clothing both markets import.
• The market is not growing fast. Garment exports have moved between US$36 billion and US$39 billion a year for four years, and Bangladesh’s world share has slipped from its 2022 peak. That is a reason to compare quotes and lead times carefully, not a reason to avoid the country.
• Trade rules are changing. Much of the EU trade runs duty free under Everything But Arms, the EU scheme for least developed countries. Bangladesh is scheduled to leave that UN category on 24 November 2026. In February 2026 it asked for a longer preparatory period, and in July 2026 the UN Economic and Social Council recommended that the General Assembly decide before that date. Our guide to LDC graduation and duty-free apparel explains what changes for buyers. Confirm the duty on your own product with your customs broker.

For how many factories produce these exports and where they are, see our guide to garment factories in Bangladesh. For the wider case, see why Bangladesh.

What to do next

If your products sit in the categories Bangladesh exports most, the next step is a real quote on your own specification. CMB Sourcing is a buying house in Narayanganj, Dhaka. We do not own sewing lines; we place orders with audited partner factories and name the factory in writing, with its address, certificates and audit reports, before production starts. Our full package production page explains how an order runs from fabric to shipment. Minimums start at 500 pieces per style and colour, and 1,000 for t-shirts. Send us your tech pack or product list and we will reply within one working day.