That calculated dollar amount results from a 36.7% increase compared to $42.1 billion five years earlier in 2020.
Year over year, the total value of Bangladeshi exported goods flatlined via a 1.2% gain starting from $56.9 billion starting from 2023.
By value, Bangladesh’s biggest exports are highly concentrated. Clothing or accessories, whether or not knitted or crocheted, generated roughly 84% of total exports from the densely populated Asian nation.
Based on the average exchange rate for 2024, the Bangladeshi taka depreciated by -6.2% against the US dollar from 2023 to 2024. The weaker local currency in Bangladesh makes its exports paid for in stronger US dollars relatively less expensive for international buyers starting with American currency.
Given Bangladesh’s population of 172 million people, its total $57.5 billion in 2024 exports translates to roughly $350 for every resident in the South Asian country. That dollar metric lags the average $380 per capita one year earlier in 2023.
Bangladesh’s Top 10 Exports
The following export product groups represent the highest dollar value in Bangladeshi global shipments during 2024. Also shown is the percentage share each export category represents in terms of overall exports from Bangladesh.
- Mineral fuels including oil: US$10.9 billion (16.9% of total imports)
- Cotton: $6.6 billion (10.1%)
- Machinery including computers: $5.2 billion (8%)
- Electrical machinery, equipment: $3.9 billion (6%)
- Iron, steel: $3.5 billion (5.4%)
- Plastics, plastic articles: $2.3 billion (3.5%)
- Animal/vegetable fats, oils, waxes: $2.1 billion (3.3%)
- Manmade staple fibers: $1.9 billion (2.9%)
- Knit or crochet fabric: $1.8 billion (2.7%)
- Manmade filaments: $1.7 billion (2.6%)
Bangladesh’s top 10 export product categories accounted for 95.4% of the overall value of its global shipments.
Feathers, artificial flowers and hair was the fastest grower among the top 10 export categories, up by 21.7% from 2023 to 2024.
In second place for improving export sales was plastics, both as materials and items made from plastic, via a 18.7% advance.
Bangladesh’s shipments of footwear posted the third-fastest gain in value, up by 11.6%.
The leading decliner among Bangladesh’s top 10 export categories was paper yarn and woven fabric, recording a -16.8% year-over-year drop.
The listed product categories are at the two-digit Harmonized Tariff System (HTS) code level.
Drilling down to the four-digit HTS codes, Bangladesh’s most valuable exported products were knitted or crocheted t-shirts and vests (14.3%), unknitted and non-crocheted men’s suits including trousers (14%), knitted or crocheted jerseys or pullovers (12.3%), unknitted and non-crocheted women’s clothing (10.5%), knitted or crocheted women’s clothing (5.6%), unknitted and non-crocheted men’s shirts (4.3%), knitted or crocheted women’s underwear and pajamas (2.5%), unknitted and non-crocheted men’s coats and jackets (2.4%), knitted or crocheted men’s shirts (2.3%), then unknitted and non-crocheted women’s coats and jackets (2.2%).
Products Generating Bangladesh’s Greatest Trade Surpluses
The following types of Bangladeshi product shipments represent positive net exports or a trade balance surplus. Investopedia defines net exports as the value of a country’s total exports minus the value of its total imports.
In a nutshell, net exports represent the amount by which foreign spending on a home country’s goods or services exceeds or lags the home country’s spending on foreign goods or services.
- Knit or crochet clothing, accessories: US$26.6 billion (Up by 1.8% since 2023)
- Clothing, accessories (not knit or crochet): $22.7 billion (Up by 2.3%)
- Footwear: $1.2 billion (Up by 18.9%)
- Miscellaneous textiles, worn clothing: $1.1 billion (Down by -6.2%)
- Headgear: $534.9 million (Down by -14.3%)
- Leather/animal gut articles: $482.9 million (Down by -0.9%)
- Fish: $356.1 million (Up by 6.6%)
- Feathers, artificial flowers, hair: $252.8 million (Up by 36.8%)
- Tobacco, manufactured substitutes: $170.7 million (Down by -17.9%)
- Plaiting products, basketware, wickerwork: $50.7 million (Up by 17.7%)
Bangladesh has highly positive net exports in the international trade of apparel, both clothing and accessories. In turn, these cashflows indicate Bangladesh’s strong competitive advantages under apparel-related product categories.
Products Causing Bangladesh’s Worst Trade Deficits
Overall Bangladesh incurred an estimated -US$6 billion trade deficit during 2024, shrinking by -56.3% from -$13.7 billion in red ink for 2023.
Below are exports from Bangladesh that result in negative net exports or product trade balance deficits. These negative net exports reveal product categories where foreign spending on home country Bangladesh’s goods trail Bangladeshi importer spending on foreign products.
- Mineral fuels including oil: US-$9.1 billion (Down by -32.4% since 2023)
- Cotton: -$7.6 billion (Up by 12.1%)
- Machinery including computers: -$4.4 billion (Down by -16.1%)
- Electrical machinery, equipment: -$3.5 billion (Down by -7.6%)
- Iron, steel: -$3.1 billion (Down by -10.9%)
- Plastics, plastic articles: -$2.4 billion (Down by -3.9%)
- Knit or crochet fabric: -$2.25 billion (Up by 27.7%)
- Manmade staple fibers: -$2.2 billion (Up by 14.8%)
- Manmade filaments: -$1.92 billion (Up by 8.7%)
- Animal/vegetable fats, oils, waxes: -$1.88 billion (Down by -7.8%)
Historically, Bangladesh posts highly negative net exports and therefore deep international trade deficits for petroleum oils (particularly refined oil, coal and petroleum gases) under the mineral fuels-related product category.
Bangladeshi Export Companies
Not one Bangladeshi corporation ranks among Forbes Global 2000.
Wikipedia does list a number of exporters located in Bangladesh. Selected examples are shown below.
- Advanced Chemical Industries (pharmaceuticals, consumer brands, agribusiness)
- ASM Chemical Industries (industrial chemicals)
- Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation (oil products)
- Beximco Pharma (pharmaceuticals)
- Dragon Group (clothing, notably sweaters)
- Kazi Farms Group (poultry)
- KDS Group (garments, textiles, steel)
- Petrobangla (oil, natural gas, minerals)
- Pragoti (automobiles)
- Walton (motorcycles)
In macroeconomic terms, Bangladesh’s total exported goods represent 3.4% of its overall Gross Domestic Product for 2024 ($1.674 trillion valued in Purchasing Power Parity US dollars). That 3.4% for exports to overall GDP in PPP for 2024 compares to 3.7% for 2023. Those percentages suggest a relatively decreasing reliance on products sold on international markets for Bangladesh’s total economic performance, albeit based on a short timeframe.
Another critical economic indicator is a country’s unemployment rate. In 2024, the average unemployment rate for Bangladesh was 4.63%. That percentage represents an upturn from an average 4.2% jobless rate one year earlier in 2023, according to Trading Economics.
Bangladesh’s capital city is Dhaka, formerly called Dacca and the country’s largest city in terms of population and geographic area.
See also Bangladesh’s Top 10 Imports, Top Exported Hats by Country, Top Exported Baby Clothing Sales, and Cotton Imports by Country
Research Sources:
Central Intelligence Agency, The World Factbook report on South Asia: Bangladesh. Accessed on May 8, 2025
EXCHANGE-RATES.org Bangladeshi Taka (BDT) to US Dollar, Exchange Rate History. Accessed on May 8, 2025
Forbes Global 2000 rankings, The World’s Biggest Public Companies. Accessed on May 8, 2025
Foreign Trade, United States Census Bureau. Accessed on May 8, 2025
International Monetary Fund, World Economic Outlook Database (GDP based on Purchasing Power Parity). Accessed on May 8, 2025
International Trade Centre, Trade Map. Accessed on May 8, 2025
Investopedia, Net Exports Definition. Accessed on May 8, 2025
Wikipedia, Bangladesh. Accessed on May 8, 2025
Wikipedia, Category:Companies of Bangladesh. Accessed on May 8, 2025
Wikipedia, Gross domestic product. Accessed on May 8, 2025
Wikipedia, List of Companies of Bangladesh. Accessed on May 8, 2025
Wikipedia, Purchasing power parity. Accessed on May 8, 2025