Bangladesh is one of the most important centre for denim apparel production and export around the world. In fact, it has come up as the third most important exporter of denim apparel to US after Mexico and China and second highest to EU after China.  With thousands of small and big garment units in Bangladesh, it is also one of the cheapest production centre for apparel around the world . Also , it is the world’s most concentrated cluster of apparel production with most of the units centered in and around the city of Dhaka and some around Chittagaong.
While most of the aforesaid is known , what is not well known is that Bangladesh is also coming up as large textile industry centre . A number of new spinning and weaving mills have come up in the country and these include denim weaving mills also. While Bangladesh has traditionally been a fabric importer, the emergence of these mills is changing the equation for the exporters of fabrics to this country.

In this report , lets see :

a) What is the total market size for denim fabrics in Bangladesh ?
b) What is the production of denim fabrics in Bangladesh – total and mill wise – giving capacities of mills and approx utilization.
c) What is the total import market for Denim fabrics in BD?
d) What are the major export destination markets for these products and what are the actual exports to US (till May 2012) and for EU (till April 2012) . How does it compare with the same period last year ? EU exports seem to be increasing while US exports are falling (see figures)
e) An (public) report from a denim mill in Bangladesh (which can be downloaded)  and  will give an idea on

• Financials of operating denim mill in Bangladesh.
• SWOT analysis of denim industry in Bangladesh
• Some idea on prices received by denim mills for their fabrics in BD.
• Balance sheet and statement of income.
• And many other useful aspects of denim operations in BD.
• An idea on the buyers who buy from local mills and approx prices .

(the report is in about 1000 words)

The share of imported fabrics is decreasing by the day as the capacities of Bangladesh Denim mills keeps on increasing every year.
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Bangladesh has  a total market size of about 270 million mtrs of denim (2011). Almost the entire quantity is used for manufacturing of apparel for export. Though , of course, the actual quantity of denim consumed will vary from year to year , depending on orders from overseas markets, this is the approximate quantity that has been consumed in the country in the year 2011. In 2012, this quantity is expected to be lower as we find that the orders from US and EU both have reduced and the figures of exports from Bangladesh are lower.

Domestic Production

The installed capacity of  domestic production of denim fabric in Bangladesh is about 233 million mtrs. This is the installed capacity. The capacity utilization of denim mills in Bangladesh is between 80-85% and hence the actual production estimate for denim in BD is about 191 million mtrs.  The breakup of the production capacities mill wise is given below :

Imported Fabrics

So what is the approx imported fabrics that are coming into Bangladesh. The approximate figures for these fabrics coming into Bangladesh are about 90 million mtrs. This is still a huge quantity . However, if we consider that about 7-8 years back almost the entire quantity of denim was being imported, the market share of imported fabric is going down steeply. Also, there are planned expansions of more than 50 million mtrs in the coming year in Bangladesh and this will further push out the imported fabrics – unless there is a huge increase in order position (which does not seem likely in 2012).  This cake of about 100 million mtrs is divided principally between the following countries exporting denim fabrics .

India
Pakistan
China
Indonesia
Thailand
Some quantities of fabrics comes from countries like Turkey, US and even Japan – but these are mainly against nominated orders only.

The mills likely to be hit most by the increased capacities in Bangladesh are the ones that cater to the lower end of the market  as Bangladesh mills are slowly becoming as competitive as those from India, Pakistan and other countries. Besides there are costs associated with importing fabrics(l/c opening , importing , custom clearance, port costs etc)  which the domestic fabrics do not have  Also, the orders which are highly time sensitive may slowly be replaced by domestic mills as they will be in a position to supply faster. The BD mills, however, face some drawbacks when compared with overseas mills in that they are still behind in terms of R & D and quality of products. Hence the orders which are meant for high quality conscious buyers are being served by the overseas mills and BD mills cater more to the lower end . However, with companies like Partex , Envoy , Sasha coming up very well , using India, Turkish and European technicians, the days are nor far ahead when these mills will be able to have the qualities made by top mills in India, Pakistan etc.

Where is the  denim apparel going from Bangladesh  ?

Lets look at some figures of exports of denim apparel from Bangladesh

Apart from the above two destinations, the BD ships to Latin America, African countries, Australia etc. With India having given a duty free access to BD , now India has become an important destination for BD exporters.
Also , it can be seen from the above chart that while exports to US in the first five months of the year are very dismal and are already short by about 22%. However the exports to EU have increased by about 7% – which is a great achievement given the situation of EU . The imports into EU are actually not increasing and the increasing exports from Bangladesh is an indication that it is cannabalizing on the exports from other countries like China.

Here is a link to a report from Envoy Textiles – one of the most imp denim mill from Bangladesh. This report ,which is an IPO filing gives various details about the operation of the company , the financials, the product prices and many other info in its 146 page report. Download here – Envoy-Textiles-Limited

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