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Bangladesh Overtakes China To Become Top Denim Supplier To The European Union

• By  Textile Excellence
• April 01, 2017

Bangladesh has overtaken China to become the largest denim supplier to the European Union and it could eventually be able to achieve the US $50-billion export target by 2021.

In the January-June period of 2016, Bangladesh exported 567.97 million Euros worth of denim products to the 28-nation bloc -- enough to secure a 21.18% market share, the highest. The country has also become the third largest denim supplier -- after China and Mexico -- to the US. It exported US $186.30 million worth of denim products to the US, registering a 12.03% market share, eclipsed only by China (26.04%) and Mexico (25.40%).

The headway has been possible because of the millions of dollars which local denim fabrics makers invested to set up state-of-the-art facilities at their plants. Currently, Bangladesh has 30 denim mills for which investment to the tune of US $1 billion was made, according to Mostafiz Uddin, managing director of Denim Expert Ltd, a leading denim exporter. The collective production capacity of the mills is 435 million yards a year, he said.

Bangladesh could win in the European denim segment not only for the competitive prices, but also for the quality of its products, shorter lead time and better commitment, according to M S Hasan, director of operations of Amber Denim, another major Bangladeshi denim maker. Almost 70% of the US population wear denim products regularly, according to industry insiders. In the UK, one of the largest European clothing markets, each consumer owns an average of 17 denim garments.

Bangladeshi entrepreneurs supply denim products to major global retailers including Levi's, Diesel, G-Star RAW, H&M, Uniqlo, Tesco, Wrangler, s.Oliver, Hugo Boss, Walmart, and Gap. The denim sub-sector could play a significant role in achieving the $50 billion export target by the end of 2021, said Mostafiz Uddin, who organises denim expositions twice a year in Bangladesh.

Annually 2.1 billion pieces of denim are sold globally, according to Bangladesh Denim Expo, the organiser of the exposition. In 2014, the size of the global denim market stood at $56.20 billion, Mostafiz said. By 2020, the global denim market will reach $64.1 billion, while Bangladesh's denim export is forecasted to reach $7 billion by the end of 2021. It is estimated that the global denim market will grow by about 8% a year until 2020, Mostafiz said, citing data from the Cotton Inc USA.

Textile Excellence