That calculated dollar amount results from an 18.2% increase compared to $52.3 billion five years earlier in 2021.
Year over year, the total value of Bangladeshi exported goods grew by 8.4% starting from $57 billion starting from 2024.
By value, Bangladesh’s biggest exports are highly concentrated. Clothing or accessories, whether or not knitted or crocheted, generated over 85% of total exports from the densely populated Asian nation.
Based on the average exchange rate for 2025, the Bangladeshi taka appreciated by 30.1% against the US dollar since 2021 and strengthened by 5.4% from 2024 to 2025. The stronger local currency in Bangladesh makes its exports paid for in weaker US dollars relatively more expensive for international buyers starting with American currency.
Given Bangladesh’s population of 174 million people, its total US$61.8 billion in 2025 exports translates to roughly $360 for every resident in the South Asian country. That dollar metric exceeds the average $350 per capita one year earlier in 2024.
Bangladesh’s Top 10 Exports
The following export product groups represent the highest dollar value in Bangladeshi global shipments during 2025. Also shown is the percentage share each export category represents in terms of overall exports from Bangladesh.
- Knit or crochet clothing, accessories: US$28.9 billion (46.8% of total exports)
- Clothing, accessories (not knit or crochet): $24.3 billion (39.3%)
- Footwear: $1.7 billion (2.7%)
- Miscellaneous textiles, worn clothing: $1.2 billion (1.9%)
- Leather/animal gut articles: $670.6 million (1.1%)
- Headgear: $637.4 million (1%)
- Paper yarn, woven fabric: $533.3 million (0.9%)
- Fish: $511.8 million (0.8%)
- Feathers, artificial flowers, hair: $323.1 million (0.5%)
- Tobacco, manufactured substitutes: $236.7 million (0.4%)
Bangladesh’s top 10 export product categories accounted for 95.5% of the overall value of its global shipments.
Items made from leather or animal gut represent the fastest grower among the top 10 export categories, up by 19.8% from 2024 to 2025.
In second place for improving export sales was tobacco including manufactured substitutes via a 18.1% advance.
Bangladesh’s shipments of feathers, artificial flowers and hair posted the third-fastest gain in value, up by 17.8%.
The lone decliner among Bangladesh’s top 10 export categories was paper yarn and woven fabric, thanks to a -15% 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 (14.7%), unknitted and non-crocheted men’s suits including trousers (13.9%), knitted or crocheted jerseys or pullovers (12.8%), unknitted and non-crocheted women’s clothing (10.2%), knitted or crocheted women’s clothing (5.3%), unknitted and non-crocheted men’s shirts (4.1%), knitted or crocheted women’s underwear and pajamas (2.6%), knitted or crocheted men’s shirts (2.4%), unknitted and non-crocheted men’s coats and jackets (also 2.4%), 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$28.9 billion (Up by 11.3% since 2024)
- Clothing, accessories (not knit or crochet): $24.2 billion (Up by 10.2%)
- Footwear: $1.4 billion (Up by 17.9%)
- Miscellaneous textiles, worn clothing: $1.1 billion (Up by 4.7%)
- Headgear: $611.1 million (Up by 13.1%)
- Leather/animal gut articles: $604.9 million (Up by 22.9%)
- Fish: $460.7 million (Up by 29.1%)
- Feathers, artificial flowers, hair: $279.9 million (Up by 10.9%)
- Tobacco, manufactured substitutes: $228.5 million (Up by 22.3%)
- Paper yarn, woven fabric: $62.5 million (Up by 166.7%)
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$3.3 billion trade deficit during 2025, shrinking by -73.1% from -$12.3 billion in red ink for 2024.
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$8.6 billion (Down by -23.4% since 2024)
- Cotton: -$7.3 billion (Down by -8.5%)
- Machinery including computers: -$4.5 billion (Down by -7.4%)
- Iron, steel: -$3.22 billion (Up by 3.1%)
- Electrical machinery, equipment: -$3.2 billion (Down by -10.3%)
- Animal/vegetable fats, oils, waxes: -$2.6 billion (Up by 35.9%)
- Plastics, plastic articles: -$2.41 billion (Down by -6.1%)
- Knit or crochet fabric: -$2.37 billion (Up by 3.7%)
- Cereals: -$2.22 billion (Up by 111.5%)
- Fertilizers: -$2.19 billion (Up by 31.7%)
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 3.5% of its overall Gross Domestic Product for 2025 ($1.783 trillion valued in Purchasing Power Parity US dollars). That 3.5% for exports to overall GDP in PPP for 2025 compares to 3.4% for 2024. Those percentages suggest a relatively increasing 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 2025, the average unemployment rate for Bangladesh was 3.8%. That percentage represents an upturn from an average 3.6% jobless rate one year earlier in 2024, 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 30, 2026
EXCHANGE-RATES.org Bangladeshi Taka (BDT) to US Dollar, Exchange Rate History. Accessed on May 30, 2026
Forbes Global 2000 rankings, The World’s Biggest Public Companies. Accessed on May 30, 2026
Foreign Trade, United States Census Bureau. Accessed on May 30, 2026
International Monetary Fund, World Economic Outlook Database (GDP based on Purchasing Power Parity). Accessed on May 30, 2026
International Trade Centre, Trade Map. Accessed on May 30, 2026
Investopedia, Net Exports Definition. Accessed on May 30, 2026
Wikipedia, Bangladesh. Accessed on May 30, 2026
Wikipedia, Category:Companies of Bangladesh. Accessed on May 30, 2026
Wikipedia, Gross domestic product. Accessed on May 30, 2026
Wikipedia, List of Companies of Bangladesh. Accessed on May 30, 2026
Wikipedia, Purchasing power parity. Accessed on May 30, 2026