Fashion brands and buyers in the United States are eager to increase sourcing from Bangladesh over the next two years. They find the prices of apparel and textile products in Bangladesh to be lower than global average prices. The ‘2021 Fashion Industry Benchmarking Study’ conducted by the United States Fashion Industry Association revealed the unit price of apparel products in Bangladesh was $2.5 in July-May of this year while the global average price was $2.6 in the period. ‘Consistent with the survey results from 2017 to 2020, respondents this year again say Bangladesh offers the most competitive price, followed by China, Vietnam, Indonesia, India, and Cambodia,’ the USFIA said.

Though China offers more competitive prices than Bangladesh, US buyers want to diversify their sourcing away from China and Vietnam to avoid placing all eggs in one basket and mitigate various sourcing risks. The US-China tariff war has exacerbated sourcing cost pressures and financial challenges facing US fashion companies during the pandemic. Because of the tariff war, US fashion companies have had to pay an average 23.4 per cent import duty rate for apparel imports from China in 2020, which was much higher than 16.5 per cent back in 2017.

Diversifying the export product structure and improving production flexibility and agility will be critical for Bangladesh to play a more significant role as an apparel sourcing base for US fashion companies in the post-Covid world. This emerging trend implies that competition among the thousands of Bangladeshi apparel suppliers will intensify. While competitive suppliers will benefit from more sourcing orders, smaller and less competitive ones could become more vulnerable. Bangladesh is believed to offer the most competitive price, followed by China, Vietnam, Indonesia, India, and Cambodia.

By Fashionating World
https://www.fashionatingworld.com/new1-2/us-to-buy-more-rmg-from-bangladesh-as-it-offers-most-competitive-prices