BD Financial Review
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Trade & Exports

Bangladesh's Fruit Exports Collapse 76 Percent as Shipping Costs Triple and Cold Chains Fail

Bangladesh's fruit export earnings fell 76 percent year on year in the first quarter of this fiscal year, dropping to just $7.38 million from $30.86 million, Export Promotion Bureau data show. Exporters blame a mix of soaring freight costs after disruptions near the Strait of Hormuz and long standing gaps in cold storage, traceability and lab testing. The crash is a sharp reversal from last year, when fruit exports hit a record on the back of cheaper air freight. Mangoes, jackfruit, tender coconuts and cabbage shipments to Europe, the UK and the Middle East were among the hardest hit.

November 8, 2026Read more

Bangladesh's Garment Wage Board Promises January Pay as a Protester's Death and Mass Arrests Harden the Standoff

Bangladesh's new minimum wage board says garment workers will see higher pay only from January, even as a worker's death and a sweeping Anti-Terrorism Act case harden a week of factory unrest. Protests entered a fifth day in Gazipur, Narayanganj and Savar before roughly a third of Gazipur's factories reopened by Friday. The gap between official claims of calm and workers' own accounts of fear suggests the dispute is far from settled, with real consequences for export schedules and household budgets alike.

November 7, 2026Read more

Bangladesh's Fuel Import Bill Doubles to $4.2 Billion, Pushing the External Account Into Deficit

Bangladesh's trade deficit widened 31% year on year to $7.48 billion in July-September, the first quarter of this fiscal year, as imports rose 15% to $19.33 billion against 7% export growth to $11.86 billion. The single biggest driver was fuel: petroleum imports jumped 105%, from $2 billion to $4.2 billion. Capital machinery imports fell 22.5% even as the fuel and food import bill rose, and the current account deficit widened to $1.33 billion. Bangladesh Bank covered the resulting external account gap from reserves.

November 6, 2026Read more

Mongla Port Gets a Tk4,000 Crore Push to Build Its First Container Jetties

The government is investing more than Tk4,000 crore to give Mongla Port its first dedicated container jetties, with China financing most of the work. Container volumes at the port already jumped 38 percent last year, but officials admit new jetties alone will not fix the channel depth and road links that have long held the port back.

November 5, 2026Read more

Bangladesh's Garment Unrest Escalates Tenfold, Closing 679 Factories in a Single Day

Bangladesh's garment belt had its roughest day in months as 679 factories across Gazipur, Ashulia, Savar and Narayanganj suspended operations amid a fourth day of wage protests. Workers are demanding a Tk30,000 monthly minimum wage, and a newly formed six-member wage board must now turn that demand into an actual pay scale. The government deployed BGB troops as the home minister warned of a crackdown on groups accused of exploiting the unrest.

November 3, 2026Read more

Bangladesh Forms Garment Wage Board Today After Ashulia Protests Shut 30 Factories

Garment worker protests shut roughly 30 factories in Ashulia on Saturday and turned into clashes with police, who used tear gas and sound grenades. Workers are demanding a minimum monthly wage of Tk30,000, more than double the current Tk12,500 floor. Labour Minister Ariful Haque Chowdhury says the government will formally set up a long-promised wage board today, Sunday, to review pay. The unrest follows two weeks of smaller protests in Gazipur and Mirpur over the same demand.

November 1, 2026Read more

Why Bangladesh Wants a Chinese Bank Branch in Dhaka to Back Its $19 Billion Trade Corridor

Bangladesh does not have a single operating Chinese bank branch, even though trade between the two countries reached $19 billion last fiscal year. At a Beijing event on October 20, Invest Bangladesh chairman Ashik Chowdhury urged eleven major Chinese banks to open local operations so trade finance stops routing through third countries. The invitation came five days after a separate meeting where China Exim Bank discussed financing Bangladesh's power grid upgrades, pointing to a broader push for faster, more direct Chinese capital.

October 31, 2026Read more

Bangladesh Wins a Three Year Reprieve From Losing Its Duty Free Trade Status

The United Nations General Assembly has pushed back Bangladesh's graduation from the Least Developed Country category by three years, to 24 November 2029. The decision gives exporters more time before duty free access to markets like the European Union starts to disappear. Economists and business leaders welcomed the extension but warned that reforms to revenue collection, banking and trade policy cannot wait until the deadline gets close again.

October 30, 2026Read more

Why a Kilo of Apples Now Costs Tk380 in Dhaka, Bangladesh's Fruit Import Taxes Hit 122 Percent

Import duty and tax on six fresh fruits in Bangladesh, none of them grown commercially in the country, have climbed as high as 121.78 percent, pushing retail apple prices in Dhaka to around Tk380 a kilo. Fruit imports fell 29 percent over five years even as tariff revenue on fruit nearly doubled to about Tk6,000 crore. The country's own trade commission now says a lower tariff could raise more money overall by reviving import volumes.

October 29, 2026Read more

Garment Wage Board Gazette Still Waits on Workers' List as Minister Warns Off Street Protests

Bangladesh's labour minister says the gazette forming a new minimum wage board for garment workers will be published once the workers' side submits its representatives, with employers having already done so. The announcement, made at back to back tripartite meetings in Dhaka, follows weeks of unrest in Gazipur and Kaliakair and comes without a firm date or a confirmed wage figure.

October 28, 2026Read more

Bangladesh and Malaysia Open Formal Free Trade Talks in Dhaka, Aiming to Seal a Deal by 2027

Bangladesh and Malaysia began formal free trade negotiations in Dhaka on October 27, exchanging draft texts for the first time after years of preliminary talk. The deal aims to diversify Bangladesh's narrow export basket to Malaysia beyond knitwear and garments while addressing a $2 billion trade deficit, and includes an unusual provision on training Bangladeshi workers for Malaysia's semiconductor industry. Both sides have set a 2027 target, an ambitious timeline for an agreement this broad.

October 27, 2026Read more

Bangladesh Chases New Buyers in South America After Exports Top $195 Million in a Quarter

Bangladesh's exports to 11 South American markets reached $195 million in the first quarter of this fiscal year, with Brazil and Chile alone making up nearly two-thirds of the total. Garments still dominate the basket, which is exactly the concentration the Export Promotion Bureau says it wants to fix through more trade fair outreach. The numbers show real growth, but also how far diversification still has to go.

October 22, 2026Read more

BGMEA Makes ESG Reporting Mandatory for All Garment Factories, But Only 13 Percent Have Filed So Far

BGMEA announced on October 19 that it will make ESG reporting mandatory for all member factories, after only 326 of about 2,500 members, 13 percent, have ever filed one. The push is tied to EU rules that will require brands to report on their supply chains from 2029, and the EU alone buys 46.36 percent of Bangladesh's garment exports. Factories must track environmental, social and governance data daily, though BGMEA has not yet fixed a deadline for compliance. For factory owners, investors and workers, the mandate marks a shift from voluntary disclosure to a tracked, central requirement.

October 21, 2026Read more

Bangladesh's Letters of Credit Jump 18 Percent as Import Demand Finally Thaws

Bangladesh's importers opened 18 percent more letters of credit in July and August than a year earlier, a sign that the long squeeze on import trade is finally easing. Consumer goods led the rebound, while demand for industrial raw materials barely moved. The numbers point to a cautious recovery built on a steadier dollar and stronger remittances rather than a sudden boom, and they carry real implications for anyone importing goods or watching Bangladesh's trade gap this year.

October 20, 2026Read more

Benapole Border Trade Halts for Eight Days as Durga Puja Closes the Land Port

Bangladesh's busiest land crossing with India is going quiet for eight days. Cargo trade through Benapole, which normally handles about 90% of goods entering the country by land, is suspended from October 17 to 24 as Durga Puja holidays on both sides of the border overlap. Here is what actually stays open, what the closure costs in truck volume, and what importers and exporters should do before the gates shut.

October 19, 2026Read more

Spain Overtakes Germany as Bangladesh's Top EU Garment Buyer

Spain has overtaken Germany as Bangladesh's largest apparel buyer in the European Union, with Q1 FY27 exports reaching $1.14 billion against Germany's $1.12 billion. BGMEA says the shift reflects higher energy costs squeezing German retailers, while Spanish buyers keep placing strong orders. Industry leaders caution the change may not last, but it shows how quickly Bangladesh's $4.9 billion EU apparel trade can reshuffle.

October 17, 2026Read more

Bangladesh Eyes $10 Billion in UK Exports by Moving Beyond Garments

Bangladesh currently holds just 0.49% of the UK's import market, and officials say doubling that share to 1% could be worth $10 billion a year in exports. Non-garment goods make up only about 6% of what Bangladesh sells to the UK today, even though demand exists for processed food, pharmaceuticals, footwear and furniture. A UK trade scheme will keep most of that access duty free even after Bangladesh's graduation from least developed country status, but exporters still need to close gaps in standards and certification.

October 15, 2026Read more

Bangladesh Moves to Form a New Garment Wage Board After Workers Demand Tk30,000 in Uttara Protest

Bangladesh's labour ministry is asking garment factory owners and workers to nominate representatives for a new minimum wage board, a day after workers in Uttara blocked traffic demanding a monthly wage of Tk30,000. The current minimum wage of Tk12,500 was set in December 2023, and labour leaders say a legally required review is already overdue. Factory owners and unions disagree on exactly when the next wage board is due, a dispute that could delay fresh pay rises well into 2027 or 2028.

October 15, 2026Read more

Bangladesh's Import Bills Hit a 53 Month High as Mideast Tensions Lift Fuel Costs

Bangladeshi businesses opened $8.10 billion worth of import letters of credit in September, the highest monthly total in 53 months. The figure marks a 22.37 percent jump from a year earlier, but bankers say the surge is being driven mostly by rising prices for fuel, fertiliser and raw materials, not rising order volumes. Middle East tensions pushing up global oil prices are a key reason behind the higher import bill.

October 13, 2026Read more

Bangladesh Exports Climb 6.3% to $13.1 Billion in First Quarter of FY27, Led by Pharma and Jute

Bangladesh's merchandise exports rose 6.34 percent to 13.094 billion dollars in the first quarter of the 2026-27 fiscal year, Export Promotion Bureau data show, with September alone climbing 8.54 percent even after a surprising dip in July. Readymade garments remained the backbone of the gain at 10.578 billion dollars, but pharmaceuticals, jute goods and light engineering grew far faster off a smaller base, and shipments to Turkiye more than doubled. The rebound follows a July in which BGMEA reported RMG exports actually falling 1.92 percent against an unusually strong year ago base, underscoring how uneven the recovery has been from month to month.

October 8, 2026Read more

Bangladesh's Trade Deficit Jumps 29% to $3.82 Billion as Fuel Imports Surge

Bangladesh's trade deficit widened 29 percent year on year to $3.82 billion in the first two months of fiscal year 2026-27, as petroleum import costs more than doubled and overall imports grew twice as fast as exports. July alone had already shown the gap widening to $2.09 billion, before a stronger August pulled the current account surplus up to $599 million on the back of surging remittances. Economists say the swelling fuel import bill is now the central pressure point on an external balance that remittances alone cannot be relied on to offset indefinitely.

October 7, 2026Read more

Bangladesh's September Exports Rise 8.5% to $3.94 Billion, Even as Buyers Keep Diversifying Away

Bangladesh's exports rose 8.54 percent in September to $3.94 billion, Export Promotion Bureau data released on October 1 showed, even as the total came in about 11 percent below August's unusually strong month. Garments still made up 78 percent of the total, with knitwear and woven products growing almost in lockstep, while pharmaceuticals, jute, leather and home textiles all grew faster in percentage terms than the garment sector. The first quarter of the new fiscal year is now up 6.34 percent on last year, but industry leaders are tempering the good news with warnings about rising input costs and buyers spreading orders to other countries.

October 2, 2026Read more

India Adds a New Anti-Subsidy Duty on Bangladesh's Jute Goods, Stacking It Atop an Existing One

India's Directorate General of Trade Remedies has recommended countervailing duties of up to $140.04 per tonne on Bangladeshi jute goods, arriving just days after New Delhi imposed separate anti-dumping duties of up to $445 per tonne on the same products. Bangladeshi industry figures argue the two measures cannot legally be stacked on the same shipment under WTO rules, echoing an objection Bangladesh's Commerce Ministry raised in an earlier round of the same dispute. The timing threatens a fragile recovery in jute earnings, which grew 8 percent to $884 million in FY26 after falling from $1.16 billion in FY21.

October 1, 2026Read more

Bangladesh's Garment Exports Rose 13 Percent in August, but Buyers Are Quietly Spreading Their Orders Elsewhere

Bangladesh's exports rose 13.14 percent in August to $4.43 billion, with garment factories once again doing almost all of the work and shipments to the United States climbing 26 percent for the month. Two month combined RMG exports to the US are now up 11.42 percent from a year earlier, though July alone actually declined slightly before August's surge pulled the total higher. BGMEA president Mahmud Hasan Khan has spent September telling factory owners a less comfortable story alongside these numbers, that international buyers are strategically spreading their orders across more supplier countries rather than concentrating purchases in Bangladesh. Thirty factories have closed since January even as fifty three new ones opened, a churn that the trade body is answering with a new Japan desk, an October roadshow in Hong Kong and a push for extended trade preferences.

September 29, 2026Read more

US Corn Shipments to Bangladesh Rebound as Import Market Diversifies Away From India

The United States has captured 6 percent of Bangladesh's corn import market in the 2025-26 marketing year, its first sales in eight years, as feed millers diversify away from a shrinking Indian supply. Brazil remains dominant with 68 percent of the roughly 17.4 lakh tonnes Bangladesh imported, down from 93 percent a year earlier, while India has clawed back to 24 percent after its exportable surplus shrank due to biofuel diversion. The US return follows a push from Dhaka to narrow a $6.2 billion trade deficit with Washington amid tariff threats from the Trump administration, which were later ruled illegal by the US Supreme Court. Bangladesh needs more than 71 lakh tonnes of corn a year for its growing poultry, dairy and aquaculture sectors, against domestic production of only about 60 lakh tonnes, leaving room for multiple suppliers to coexist.

September 27, 2026Read more

Bangladesh's Garment Exports to the US Rebound Sharply After a Rough Spring

Bangladesh's ready made garment exports to the United States climbed 11.42 percent year on year to 1,612.92 million dollars in July-August, with August alone up 25.65 percent, according to Export Promotion Bureau data. The rebound is a sharp turn from April, when industry leaders warned Western retailers were planning to cut orders by 8 to 10 percent amid diesel shortages and rising freight costs. The US still accounts for 20.8 percent of Bangladesh's total RMG exports, making its monthly performance a closely watched indicator for the whole sector. Whether the recovery holds through the autumn ordering season remains the open question.

September 23, 2026Read more

Bangladesh's Garment Exports Rose 5 Percent in Two Months, But Factory Owners Say the Numbers Don't Add Up

Bangladesh's garment exports rose 5.12 percent to 7.495 billion dollars in the first two months of the fiscal year, according to provisional Export Promotion Bureau data, but the industry's own trade bodies are openly questioning what the number actually means. BGMEA president Mahmud Hasan Khan says the growth falls below industry targets and reflects a weak comparison base from last year rather than a genuine recovery, while BKMEA president Mohammad Hatem has gone as far as questioning whether the figures match real production given ongoing gas and electricity shortages. A closer look at August alone shows earnings actually fell compared to July even as the year on year comparison looked strong. The gap between the headline growth rate and what factory owners are describing is one of the clearest signs yet that Bangladesh's export recovery remains shakier than the official statistics suggest.

September 17, 2026Read more

Bangladesh's Garment Exports Diverge, US Market Surges 11.4% While EU Slides 16.4%

Bangladesh's apparel exports are telling two opposite stories this year depending on the destination. Shipments to the United States rose 11.42 percent in July and August to reach 1,612.92 million dollars, with August alone up 25.65 percent, while exports to the European Union fell 16.43 percent in the first half of 2026 to 8.64 billion euros. The EU decline outpaced a broader 9.70 percent contraction across the whole bloc's apparel imports, meaning Bangladesh lost market share even within a shrinking pie. Industry figures say larger, better capitalised exporters are best placed to manage both the EU's tightening compliance rules and any future turbulence in the US market.

September 16, 2026Read more

Bangladesh Scraps Mandatory Letter of Credit for Many Imports Under New Trade Policy

Bangladesh Bank has issued guidance letting businesses import many categories of goods through direct purchase and sale contracts, doing away with the mandatory letter of credit regardless of shipment value, as part of implementing the government's Import Policy Order 2026-2029. Export-oriented industries gain extra flexibility to source production inputs domestically through back-to-back LC arrangements or free-of-cost procurement, a change officials say is meant to cut the cost and delay that have long dogged Bangladeshi manufacturers. The reform lands just as August exports grew 13.14 percent to $4.43 billion, though trade finance specialists warn that easier imports will need smarter oversight to prevent misuse.

September 15, 2026Read more

Bangladesh's Electrical Goods Exports Hit Record Pace, But EU Rules Threaten to Cap the Growth

Bangladesh's electrical product exports jumped 23.82 percent to 206.19 million dollars, part of a wider engineering goods category, including record breaking bicycle exports, that grew nearly twice as fast as the country's overall export growth. Research on Bangladesh's trade with the European Union shows the sector is starting from a tiny base, just 167 million dollars of engineering exports to the EU in 2022, leaving billions of dollars in potential earnings still untapped. Standing in the way is a wave of new EU sustainability rules, including a Digital Product Passport becoming mandatory by 2027, that will require exporters to trace supply chains many currently cannot fully account for. Industry figures say larger firms like Walton are adapting quickly, but smaller exporters face the same kind of compliance squeeze that has already forced some garment factories to close.

September 13, 2026Read more

Bangladesh's August Exports Jump 13.14 Percent as RMG Rebounds, Though Momentum Cools From July

Bangladesh's merchandise exports rose 13.14 percent year on year in August to 4.43 billion dollars, led by a rebound in ready made garments and sharp gains in jute, pharmaceuticals and leather goods. The reading came in 6.3 percent below July's 4.72 billion dollars, and BGMEA's president cautioned the annual growth partly reflects a weak base from last year rather than a genuine turnaround. The rebound follows a July in which Bangladesh Bank's trade data showed the overall goods deficit widening sharply as fuel import costs outpaced export earnings.

September 10, 2026Read more

Bangladesh Trade Deficit Widens 38 Percent in July as Oil Import Bill Surges

Bangladesh's trade deficit widened 38.36 percent to 2.08 billion dollars in July as imports rose 8.6 percent while exports slipped 1.6 percent year on year. Petroleum imports alone jumped 83.3 percent to 1.37 billion dollars, driven by global oil prices and a domestic gas shortage. The wider gap pushed the overall balance of payments deficit up to 633 million dollars, though record remittance inflows are helping offset some of the strain.

September 9, 2026Read more