Clothing manufacturer in Bangladesh for Chilean brands

Duty today: zero

Chile’s scheme “Eliminating Import Tariffs on Goods from the Least Developed Countries” entered into force on 28 February 2014 with no expiry date, and Bangladesh began benefiting from it on 1 January 2015, according to Bangladesh’s Export Promotion Bureau. Garments from Bangladesh therefore enter Chile at 0%.

Qualifying is not automatic. The rules of origin require goods to be wholly produced in a least developed country, or to meet either a regional value content of at least 50% or a change in tariff heading. For cut-and-sew garments made from imported fabric, the change-in-heading route is usually the relevant one, but confirm it for your product with your Chilean customs agent.

What graduation may change

The scheme is built for least developed countries, and Bangladesh is scheduled to leave that category on 24 November 2029, after the UN General Assembly extended its preparatory period by three years on 29 October 2026. Chile has not, as far as we could find, published how it will treat countries that graduate. We will not fill that gap with a guess.

What we can tell you is the downside. For goods not covered by a trade agreement or preference, Chile applies a uniform 6% tariff on about 99.6% of tariff lines, on the WTO’s count for January 2023. So the realistic range for a Bangladeshi garment after graduation is between 0% and 6%. That is a manageable swing compared with most markets, and it is worth modelling now rather than discovering on the first post-graduation shipment.

IVA at 19%

Chile’s customs service explains that imports pay the ad valorem duty on the CIF value — goods plus insurance and freight — and then IVA, the value added tax, at 19% on the CIF value plus that duty. With duty at zero, IVA is simply 19% of CIF.

For a registered business IVA is recoverable in the normal way, but it is a real cash-flow line at the border. Put it in the landed cost model from the start.

The competitive picture

Chile has one of the widest networks of trade agreements in the world, which means clothing from many competing origins can enter at preferential rates. While Bangladesh has its LDC access, it competes on equal duty terms; if that lapses, the 6% becomes a gap against agreement partners.

Six per cent rarely decides a sourcing choice on its own, and Bangladesh’s strengths in cotton knitwear at volume are unaffected. But it belongs in the comparison, and it is one more reason to price your Chilean range at both duty levels now.

Shipping and landed cost

Chilean orders ship by sea from Chattogram to San Antonio or Valparaíso, a long routing with transhipment, so lead times need planning well ahead of the season. Remember too that the seasons are reversed: an autumn–winter range for Chile ships during the northern spring.

Landed cost is goods, freight, insurance, the duty rate that applies, IVA at 19% on CIF plus duty, and clearance. Run it through our landed cost calculator at 0% and at 6% duty, and ask us for FOB and DDP side by side.

Textiles under Chile’s recycling law

Chile is the first market in the Americas on this site with textile producer responsibility in motion. On 24 June 2025 the Ministry of the Environment declared textiles the seventh priority product under Law 20.920, the extended producer responsibility law known as Ley REP, joining tyres, packaging, lubricating oils, batteries and electronics. Producers and importers will register in the pollutant release and transfer register, RETC, and declare each year the textiles they place on the market, and a supreme decree will set collection and recovery targets and the other obligations; the ministry opened the drafting of that decree by Exempt Resolution 1064/2026 and, by Exempt Resolution 5165/2026 of 10 September 2026, extended the deadline for the draft by six months, to March 2027.

The ministry’s own figures explain why: Chileans consume 32 kg of textiles per person a year, the country generates more than 572,000 tonnes of textile waste annually, 92% of textiles sold are imported, and Chile is the world’s fourth-largest importer of second-hand clothing at more than 123,000 tonnes a year. UN Comtrade records US$269 million of Chilean imports from Bangladesh in 2025, US$120 million woven and US$114 million knitted apparel.

Working with us from Chile

Chile is nine to ten hours behind Bangladesh, so a brief sent at the end of your day is on our desk at the start of ours, and we reply within one working day. Goods ship by sea from Chattogram to San Antonio or Valparaíso, one of the longest routings we plan, so approvals that slip in Dhaka cost more calendar time here than in most markets; we quote FOB Chattogram or DDP to your warehouse, in US dollars, with the origin documents that support Chile’s duty-free entry for goods from a least developed country.

• Factory named before production, with its address, audit report and Accord status
• Spanish-language label content agreed at sampling and approved on the pre-production sample
• Fibre composition and garment weight per style, to request in writing for the coming REP declarations
• Quality checks on the line and the AQL final inspection report, then invoice, packing list, transport document and origin documents