Bangladesh key apparel supplier despite fluctuating imports to S Korea

South Korea’s apparel imports from Bangladesh were higher in the first and third quarters compared to the second and fourth quarters. This fluctuating trend in imports reflected the demand in South Korea’s apparel market, according to the latest trade data from Fibre2Fashion’s market insight tool TexPro.

In Q2 2022, imports declined to $115.275 million, down from $167.045 million in Q1 2022. However, they rebounded to $156.134 million in Q3 2022 before dipping again to $120.420 million in Q4 2022. A similar trend was observed in 2023, when imports surged to $176.996 million in Q1 but fell sharply to $99.773 million in Q2. Imports then recovered to $166.360 million in Q3, only to slip once more to $117.877 million in Q4 2023, as per TexPro.

In 2024, South Korea’s apparel imports from Bangladesh rose to $188.206 million in Q1 but declined to $115.796 million in Q2.

Annually, imports saw a slight increase, reaching $561.008 million in 2023, up from $558.875 million in 2022. From January to July 2024, South Korea imported apparel worth $340.149 million from Bangladesh.

Bangladesh was the fourth-largest apparel supplier to South Korea, holding a market share of 5.20 per cent. South Korea’s total apparel imports amounted to $6.540 billion between January and July 2024. China was the largest supplier, accounting for 35.21 per cent of the imports, followed by Vietnam with 27.63 per cent, and Italy with 7.56 per cent.

Fibre2Fashion News Desk (KUL)