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TOP 10
List of Bangladesh’s Top 10 Exports

Exports from Bangladesh amounted to US$35.4 billion in 2015, up 45.8% since 2011 and up 3.6% from 2014 to 2015. Bangladesh’s top 10 exports accounted for 96.2% of the overall value of its global shipments.

Based on statistics from the International Monetary Fund’s World Economic Outlook Database, Bangladesh’s total Gross Domestic Product amounted to $620.4 billion as of April 2016.

Therefore, exports accounted for about 5.7% of total Bangladeshi economic output.

Given Bangladesh’s population of 169 million people, its total $35.4 billion in 2015 exports translates to roughly $210 for every resident in that country.

Bangladesh’s unemployment rate was an estimated 4.9% in 2015, according to the Central Intelligence Agency’s World Factbook.

TOP 10

The following export product groups represent the highest dollar value in Bangladeshi global shipments during 2015. Also shown is the percentage share each export category represents in terms of overall exports from Bangladesh.

  1. Clothing (not knit or crochet): US$15.2 billion (43% of total exports)
  2. Knit or crochet clothing: $15 billion (42.2%)
  3. Other textiles, worn clothing: $1 billion (2.8%)
  4. Footwear: $807 million (2.3%)
  5. Paper yarn, woven fabric: $631.7 million (1.8%)
  6. Fish: $569.9 million (1.6%)
  7. Raw hides excluding furskins: $302.5 million (0.9%)
  8. Headgear: $240.2 million (0.7%)
  9. Leather, animal gut articles: $205.1 million (0.6%)
  10. Tobacco: $119.3 million (0.3%)

Headgear was the fastest-growing among the top 10 export categories, up 404.8% for the 5-year period starting in 2011.

In second place for improving export sales were leather and animal gut articles which was up 211.7% led by suitcases, handbags and camera cases.

Footwear posted the third-fastest gain in value at 133.5%.

The fastest-declining category among the top 10 Bangladeshi exports was paper yarn and woven fabric which was down by -23.2%.

Advantages

The following types of Bangladeshi product shipments represent positive net exports or a trade balance surplus. Investopedia defines net exports as the value of a country’s total exports minus the value of its total imports.

In a nutshell, net exports is the amount by which foreign spending on a home country’s goods or services exceeds or lags the home country’s spending on foreign goods or services.

  1. Clothing (not knit or crochet): US$15 billion (Up by 74.8% since 2011)
  2. Knit or crochet clothing: $14.9 billion (Up by 50%)
  3. Other textiles, worn clothing: $916.2 million (Down by -11.9%)
  4. Footwear: $595.7 million (Up by 162.2%)
  5. Fish: $537 million (Down by -13.6%)
  6. Paper yarn, woven fabric: $480.6 million (Down by -40.7%)
  7. Headgear: $222.4 million (Up by 415.7%)
  8. Raw hides excluding furskins: $173.1 million (Down by -33.3%)
  9. Tobacco: $103.9 million (Up by 66.2%)
  10. Leather, animal gut articles: $74.3 million (Up by 76.3%)

Bangladesh has highly positive net exports in the international trade of apparel. In turn, these cashflows indicate Bangladesh’s strong competitive advantages under the two leading product categories.

Opportunities

Below are exports from Bangladesh that result in negative net exports or product trade balance deficits. These negative net exports reveal product categories where foreign spending on home country Bangladesh’s goods trail Bangladeshi importer spending on foreign products.

  1. Cotton: -US$5.1 billion (Down by -22.9% since 2011)
  2. Machines, engines, pumps: -$4.5 billion (Up by 19.5%)
  3. Electronic equipment: -$2.8 billion (Up by 2.9%)
  4. Iron and steel: -$1.9 billion (Up by 9.5%)
  5. Plastics: -$1.7 billion (Up by 38.9%)
  6. Manmade staple fibers: -$1.6 billion (Up by 27.4%)
  7. Oil: -$1.5 billion (Down by -46.9%)
  8. Vehicles: -$1.3 billion (Up by 31.8%)
  9. Animal/vegetable fats and oils: -$1.2 billion (Down by -64.9%)
  10. Cereals: -$1.1 billion (Down by -42.8%)

Bangladesh has highly negative net exports and therefore deep international trade deficits for cotton, a key ingredient for manufacturing clothing.

Companies

Bangladeshi Export Companies

Not one Bangladeshi corporation ranks among Forbes Global 2000 for 2015.

Wikipedia also lists exporters from Bangladesh. Selected examples are shown below:

  • Advanced Chemical Industries (pharmaceuticals, consumer brands, agribusiness)
  • ASM Chemical Industries (industrial chemicals)
  • Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation (oil products)
  • Beximco Pharma (pharmaceuticals)
  • Dragon Group (clothing, notably sweaters)
  • Kazi Farms Group (poultry)
  • KDS Group (garments, textiles, steel)
  • Petrobangla (oil, natural gas, minerals)
  • Pragoti (automobiles)
  • Walton (motorcycles)