Iran-US war: Bangladesh’s ready-made garment exports collapse

BD Digest Report

The US-Israeli and Russia-Ukraine wars with Iran, the economic recession in the main market Europe have had a major impact on Bangladesh’s ready-made garment exports. Exports have decreased by 19 percent in March compared to last year. And exports have decreased by 5.51 percent in the last 9 months.

According to data from the Export Promotion Bureau (EPB), ready-made garments worth $2.782 billion were exported in March of this year.

And in March last year, exports were 344 million 99 million 20 dollars. As a single month, exports in March this year decreased by 667 million 650 thousand dollars. Which is 19.35 percent less than the previous year.
According to the data, out of the two types of ready-made garments, knit and woven, the export of knit garments decreased the most by 21.20 percent.

And woven garment exports have decreased by 17.32 percent.
The export revenue for the 9 months from July to March of the current 2025-26 fiscal year has been reduced to 5.51 percent. Total exports in the 9 months were 2,857.84 billion dollars. Exports in the same period of the previous year were 3,246.34 billion dollars.

In this regard, Mohiuddin Rubel, former director of Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) and additional managing director of Denim Expert Limited, told Banglanews that multiple problems acted as catalysts behind this major decline in ready-made garment exports. However, the war has created more crisis behind the decline in export earnings.

He said, “Currently, the major war is the war between the United States, Israel and Iran in the Strait of Hormuz. But the Russia-Ukraine war has already had a major impact on Europe, the largest market for ready-made garments. It has created a recession in the ready-made garment market across Europe.”

It has been going on for a long time. Because of this, there has already been a negative impact on export earnings. The war in the Middle East has further intensified the crisis in the Strait of Hormuz.
Mohiuddin Rubel said, a crisis has been brewing in Europe for a long time. There was already a possibility of a turnaround, but a new war is not allowing it to turn around, problems remain in the US market; due to the war, buyers are over-calculating when placing work orders or are not placing work orders and are trying to finish off stocks. All in all, such a problem has arisen in March.

Mohiuddin Rubel believes that the economic recession in Europe and the long eight-day Eid holiday were also behind the decline in export earnings in March.

Exports have started declining since August, the second month of the current 2025-26 fiscal year. The contraction was 4.75 percent in August; 5.66 percent in September; 4.39 percent in October; 5 percent in November; 14.23 percent in December; 1.35 percent in January and 13.21 percent in February.