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Archives of Business Research – Vol. 10, No. 5
Publication Date: May 25, 2022
DOI:10.14738/abr.105.12279. Islam, S. (2022). A Tale of Three Countries: The Impact of Covid-19 on Apparel Exports from Bangladesh, China, and Vietnam to the
United States. Archives of Business Research, 10(05). 1-17.
Services for Science and Education – United Kingdom
A Tale of Three Countries: The Impact of Covid-19 on Apparel
Exports from Bangladesh, China, and Vietnam to the United States
Sadequl Islam
Professor of Economics, Department of Economics
Laurentian University, Ontario, Canada P3E 2C6
ABSTRACT
This paper examines the effects of Covid-19 on apparel exports from Bangladesh,
China and Vietnam to the United States. The paper uses monthly data on knitted and
non-knitted apparel goods at disaggregate levels from January 2020 to April
2021.The findings show that Covid-19 adversely affected exports of apparel goods
from these countries to the US especially during the March 2020-May 2020 period.
It is evident that the performance of Vietnam in apparel exports has been better
compared to China and Bangladesh.
Key words: Covid-19, knitted apparel, non-knitted apparel, HS Code 61, HS code 62.
INTRODUCTION
Covid-19 has disrupted international trade because of lockdowns, restrictions on
transportation, and disruptions in production and supply chains (Arriola, Kowalski, and
Tongeren, 2021). The value of world export of goods declined 6.6% during 2019-2020. The
declines in apparel goods were even greater: for knitted apparel goods ( HS Code 61)the decline
was 10.2% while the relevant figure for non-knitted apparel goods was 11.5%. The effects of
Covid-19 on trade are likely to vary across exporting and importing countries and across
product groups.
The main objective of this paper is to explore the effects of Covid-19 on apparel exports from
three largest apparel exporting countries to the United States: China, Bangladesh, and Vietnam.
The paper also examines the effects of Covid-19 on apparel exports from these three countries
to the USA at disaggregate levels and on product diversification of apparel exports.
The paper is organized as follows. Section II provides some basic statistics on apparel exports
from China, Bangladesh, and Vietnam. Disaggregated analyses of apparel exports from these
three countries are undertaken in Section III. Top ten exports at six and ten digit levels from
these countries are reported in Section IV. Some concluding remarks are made in Section V.
BASIC STATISTICS ON APPAREL EXPORTS FROM CHINA, BANGLADESH, AND VIETNAM
Table 1 reports some basic statistics on clothing exports from China, Bangladesh, and Vietnam.
China is the largest clothing exporters in the world, followed by Bangladesh and Vietnam.
China’s share of world’s clothing exports, however, fell from 36.6% in 2010 to 30.8% in 2019.
In contrast, the share of Bangladesh increased from 4.2% in 2010 to 6.8% in 2019. The share of
Vietnam surged from 2.9% in 2010 to 6.2% in 2019. It is evident from Table 1 that the growth
of clothing exports from Vietnam was higher than that from Bangladesh and China
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Archives of Business Research (ABR) Vol. 10, Issue 5, May-2022
Services for Science and Education – United Kingdom
Table 1. Basic Statistics on Apparel Exports
Country
Value of
clothing
Exports Share in World
Exports(%),2010
Share in World
Exports(%),2019
Annual
%Change
(US$)
Billions,2019 2019
China 152 36.6 30.8 -4
Bangladesh 34 4.2 6.8 2
Vietnam 31 2.9 6.2 8
Source: World Trade Statistical Review, Table A22, WTO
Table 2 reports US monthly imports of knitted clothing (HS Code 61) from Bangladesh, China,
and Vietnam and the shares of these countries in US imports in this category of clothing. It can
be observed from Table 2 that US imports from Bangladesh declined sharply during the March
2020- May 2020 period. Since June 2020, exports from Bangladesh show signs of recovery with
some fluctuations. Exports from China fluctuated with a downward trend. Exports from
Vietnam declined during the initial shock of the pandemic, from March 2020 to May 2020, and
recovered thereafter. It is evident from Table 2 that the share of China in US imports of knitted
apparel declined while the shares of Bangladesh and Vietnam increased. In April 2021,
Vietnam’s share in US imports was higher than that of China and Bangladesh. The decline of
China’s share reflects a decline of China’s competitive position compared to Vietnam and
Bangladesh.
Table 3 displays US imports of non-knitted clothing ( HS Code 62) from Bangladesh, China, and
Vietnam. As in the case of US imports of knitted clothing, US imports of non-knitted clothing fell
sharply from Bangladesh and Vietnam, because of Covid-19, during March 2020 to May
2020.The recovery of exports started earlier for China in April while the recovery began in June
2020 for Bangladesh and Vietnam. It appears that in non-knitted apparel (HS 62), the shares of
China and Bangladesh decreased while the share of Vietnam increased during the January 2020
– April 2021 period.
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Islam, S. (2022). A Tale of Three Countries: The Impact of Covid-19 on Apparel Exports from Bangladesh, China, and Vietnam to the United States.
Archives of Business Research, 10(05). 1-17.
URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.14738/abr.105.12279
Table 2. US Imports of Knitted Clothing (HS code 61) From Bangladesh, China, and Vietnam
Notes: SB = Share of Bangladesh, SC= Share of China, and SV = Share of Vietnam
Table 3. US Imports of Non-knitted Clothing (HS Code 62) From China, Bangladesh, and
Vietnam
Month Bangladesh SB China SC Vietnam SV
20-Jan 445.2 13.54 852.1 25.92 595.3 18.11
20-Feb 380.5 13.07 558.4 19.18 492.2 16.91
20-Mar 368.3 14.56 329.4 13.03 445.8 17.63
20-Apr 296.8 15.96 461.8 24.83 382.2 20.55
20-May 108.9 0.59 827.3 4.49 319.7 1.74
20-Jun 140.5 5.13 1325.7 48.37 424.3 15.48
20-Jul 291.5 8.75 1277.0 38.32 657.2 19.72
20-Aug 390.5 11.79 1226.8 37.05 598.8 18.08
20-Sep 303.4 10.40 922.7 31.61 535.0 18.33
20-Oct 328.9 11.53 818.8 28.70 502.5 17.61
20-Nov 215.8 9.83 606.4 27.62 352.8 16.07
20-Dec 211.2 10.46 553.2 27.41 298.3 14.78
21-Jan 338.6 13.76 675.3 27.44 415.0 16.86
21-Feb 310.7 12.84 597.7 24.70 414.8 17.14
21-Mar 331.4 11.82 641.7 22.89 502.0 17.91
21-Apr 289.2 11.72 511.1 20.72 450.8 18.27
Time Bangladesh SB China SC Vietnam SV
20-Jan 157.4 4.42 835.4 23.47 710.2 19.95
20-Feb 127.3 4.14 564.8 18.37 562.1 18.28
20-Mar 134.1 4.94 269.3 9.93 542.9 20.02
20-Apr 108.2 5.93 332.7 18.24 437.8 24.01
20-May 51.1 3.70 368 26.68 325.3 23.58
20-Jun 81 3.76 622.2 28.85 451.6 20.94
20-Jul 125.4 3.70 889.3 26.23 683.6 20.16
20-Aug 191.1 4.95 1084 28.07 682.1 17.66
20-Sept 161.9 3.94 1173.1 28.57 742 18.07
20-Oct 198 4.53 1201.3 27.48 807.4 18.47
20-Nov 145.5 4.37 849.5 25.51 643.7 19.33
20-Dec 134.1 4.39 698.2 22.86 556.9 18.23
21-Jan 163 4.96 788.3 24.00 653.2 19.88
21-Feb 157.4 4.97 690.2 21.81 601.8 19.02
21-Mar 173 4.47 729.3 18.83 821.9 21.22
21-Apr 161.9 4.85 560.3 16.77 673.3 20.16
Source: USA Trade online data Figures are in millions of $