The single-month ready-made garment (RMG) exports from Bangladesh in September 2022 recorded negative growth of over 12 per cent to $3.0 billion year on year.
Exporters attributed this decline in global demand to high inflation in major destinations.
The country fetched $3.41 billion in September 2021.
Last month's export earnings were also the lowest in the last one year beginning from September 2021.
From September 2021 to August 2022, RMG exports maintained year-on-year hefty growth of over 30 per cent except May and July when growth slowed to 23.53 per cent and 16.61 per cent respectively.
The data available with the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) revealed this.
A BGMEA analysis from the provisional data of the National Board of Revenue further found that apparel exports in September 2022 decreased over 19 per cent from $3.74 billion in August.
In July 2022, it showed, RMG fetched $3.36 billion.
BGMEA vice-president Md Shahidullah Azim said it was assumed that September earnings would witness negative growth as exporters have got lower work orders for months.
Bangladesh, which fetched orders aplenty during post-lockdown periods from its European and US markets to cater to consumer needs, now receives 20-30 per cent less orders, he told the FE.
Mr Azim mainly blamed the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war for stoking global inflation.
Global buyers were reducing work orders for Bangladesh as they also have their stocks unsold as rising inflation in major European and US hubs has eaten up the demand for fashions, he explained.
The BGMEA leader apprehended that export earnings might fall further in the run-up to December.
Consumers' post-Covid buying spree and increased raw-material prices pushed both demand and growth last year, he noted.
In fiscal year 2021-22, the RMG sector fetched $42.61 billion, which is more than 81 per cent of the country's total export earnings of $52.08 billion.
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