The Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FBCCI) has urged deeper direct engagement and joint investment between Bangladeshi and Chinese businesses to narrow a persistent trade deficit, a push with direct stakes for the country’s ready-made garment (RMG) sector, which depends heavily on Chinese fabrics, dyes and machinery. Read Here
FBCCI Administrator Md Fazlul Hoque made the call on Monday at a meeting with a Chinese business delegation from the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade (CCPIT), held at the FBCCI office in Dhaka’s Motijheel area.
Hoque said bilateral trade between the two countries is currently close to $20 billion, but Bangladesh’s exports to China remain below $1 billion annually, leaving a wide imbalance. He urged both business communities to identify sectors offering the strongest potential for expanded trade and investment.
For Bangladesh’s garment industry, the world’s second-largest RMG exporter, the imbalance is closely tied to its reliance on Chinese textile inputs, including yarn, fabric and trims that underpin the sector’s roughly $38 billion in annual export earnings. Hoque said the Chinese delegation’s visit could open fresh opportunities for Bangladeshi products in the Chinese market while boosting two-way investment.
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Bangladeshi business representatives invited Chinese entrepreneurs to explore joint investment in several promising sectors, including renewable energy, a priority for RMG factories facing rising grid tariffs and pressure from global brands to decarbonize, along with pharmaceuticals and active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs), food processing, medical devices, and jute and jute products.
He Tao, director of the Bureau of Commerce of China’s Honghe region, said simplifying import-export procedures between the two countries was among the delegation’s key objectives, a move that could ease sourcing timelines for garment manufacturers reliant on Chinese raw materials.
Hoque assured the delegation that FBCCI would continue supporting Chinese entrepreneurs seeking to invest in Bangladesh, including in backward-linkage industries that supply the RMG sector.
Industry observers say closer Chinese investment in backward-linkage manufacturing, such as domestic yarn, fabric and accessories production, could help Bangladesh reduce lead times and import dependency that currently weigh on RMG competitiveness against regional rivals including Vietnam and India.
The meeting was attended by former FBCCI directors Abdul Haque, Priti Chakraborty and Obaidur Rahman, FBCCI Secretary General Md Alamgir, FBCCI Safety Council Adviser Brigadier General (retd) Abu Nayem Md Shahidullah, members of the FBCCI General Council, leaders of various chambers and associations, and other members of the CCPIT delegation.