Trade Scenario Between Bangladesh and Japan

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Trade Scenario Between Bangladesh and Japan

Bangladesh and Japan have been maintaining a good bilateral trade relationship. Although exports from Bangladesh to Japan have been increasing steadily, the balance of trade has always been in favour of Japan. The trade balance between Bangladesh and Japan is shown below(Value in million US$)

Fiscal Year	Export	Export Growth(%)	Import	Balance
2010-11	434.12		1308.40	(-) 874.28
2011-12	600.53	(+) 38.33	1456.10	(-) 855.57
2012-13	750.26	(+) 24.93	1180.20	(-) 429.94
2013-14	862.08	(+) 14.90	1290.70	(-) 428.62
2014-15	915.22	(+) 6.16	1514.00	(-) 598.78
2015-16	1079.55	(+) 17.96	1604.10	(-) 524.55
2016-17	1012.98	(-) 6.17	1833.40	(-) 820.42
2017-18	1131.90	(+) 11.74	1869.50	(-) 737.60
2018-19	1365.74	(+) 20.66	1852.50	(-) 486.80
2019-20	1200.78	(-) 12.07	1669.10 (p)	-468.32
2020-21	1183.64	(-) 9.75	2001.20	(-) 817.56
2021-22	1353.85	(+) 14.38	2435.80	(-) 1081.95
2022-23	1901.58	(+) 40.46

It transpires from the above table that the balance of trade has always been in favour of Japan.

3.0 Bangladesh Export to Japan :

Bangladesh has been exporting to Japan since a long time. The major items that we export to Japan includes woven garments, knitwear, shrimps, leather & leather footwear, jute manufactures, camera parts, jute yarn & twine. Bangladesh’s export to Japan during 2019-2020 may kindly be seen at Annexure-A. From the attached statistics, it appears that items like woven garments, knitwear, shrimps, leather, shoe, jute manufactures, jute yarn & twine, other engg. product have been playing a vital role in increasing our export earning from Japan.

4.0 Bangladesh Import from Japan :

The major items that we import from Japan include iron and steel, vehicles , machineries, copper, electrical & electronic equipments, photographic & cinematographic goods etc.

5.0 Duty free Access:

Japan has provided duty free market access to most of our products including RMG under GSP Scheme which helped creating markets of our products in Japan. But they did not give us this

opportunity for our leather hand gloves and a few products. But Japan can be one of the biggest market of our RMG. At Present China is the biggest supplier of RMG in Japanes market. But China has switched over to high value added products. Bangladesh could fill the vaccum created by China.

6.0 To promote Bangladesh export to Japan Export Promotion Bureau is regularly participating in the following fairs:

Fashion world;
IFF sourcing (Summer & Spring);
Gift show;
International life style;
Foodex Japan

7.0 For Promotion of export to Japan, the following measures have to be under taken:

1.	Bangladesh is a major exporter of apparel. So, steps need to be taken to intensify our efforts to penetrate effectively into Japanese apparel market through participation in International Trade Fairs, Buyer – Seller Meet and Contact Promotion Program.
2.	Leather and Leather Product have enormous potential in Japanes market.We should intensity market promotion drive to boost our export of these products in Japan.
3.	JETRO and EPB Bangladesh are members of the Asian Trade Promotion Forum (ATPF) and maintaining a good working relationship. We may also tap the Japanese policy in the South- East Asia for enhancing our export to Japan.
4.	Marketing mission comprising both private and public sectors need to be sent on a regular basis in prospective areas where Bangladeshi products are likely to have access to the highly competitive Japanese market;
5.	Trade creating investment with buy-back arrangement may be one of the strategies for development of trade with Japan considering the limited number of products in our export basket. Some of the areas of investments where there is a great potential for investment are Light Engineering products, Textiles, Agro-processing products, Auto-mobile, ICT and Jute Products.

The export potential of Bangladesh’s current export commodities to Japan (top ten items)

Hs Code	Export Potential (Million USD)	Actual Exports from Bangladesh (Million USD)	Untapped Potential (Million USD)	Applied tariff by Japan (%)	japan's Import from World (Million USD)	Bangladesh's Export to the World (Million USD)
610910	356.6	127.2	229.4	0.0	1300.0	5600.0
620342	243.3	153.0	90.3	0.0	742.8	5500.0
611020	136.7	80.4	56.3	0.0	1200.0	2700.0
611030	132.2	126.1	7.1	0.0	2200.0	2300.0
620462	129.0	84.5	44.5	0.0	727.7	3400.0
620520	91.3	39.7	51.6	0.0	471.7	1800.0
610990	53.7	72.5	.	0.0	1200.0	780.7
620343	52.3	22.9	29.3	0.0	738.0	676.3
0306Xb	43.5	18.2	25.3	0.0	1600.0	382.3
620530	40.1	29.5	10.6	0.0	286.9	317.7

Annxure A

2019-20 Value in US$

JP: Japan	1200781547
62: Articles of apparel and clothing accessories, not knitted or crocheted	492,492,803.51
61: Articles of apparel and clothing accessories, knitted or crocheted	469,446,420.54
63: Other made up textile articles; sets; worn clothing and worn textile articles;rags	49,591,926.76
42: Articles of leather; saddlery and harness; travel goods, handbags and similar containers; articles of animal gut (other than silk-worn gut)	43,812,023.08
64: Footwear, gaiters and the like; parts of such articles	35,194,059.84
94: Furniture; bedding, mattresses, mattress supports, cushions and similar stuffed furnishing; lamps and lighting fittings, NES or incl.; illuminated signs or name-plates and the like; prefabricated buildings	20,423,523.16
03: Fish and crustaceans, mollusc and other aquatic invertebrates	15,702,300.82
84: Nuclear reactors, boilers, machinery and mechanical appliances; parts thereof	12,769,436.46
85: Electrical machinery and equipment and parts thereof; sound recorders and reproducers, television image and sound recorders and reproducers, and parts and accessories of such articles	10,533,271.58
56: Wadding felts and non wovens; special yarn; twine, cordage, ropes and cables and articles thereof	10,167,297.51
41: Raw hides and skins (other then furskins) and leather	7,736,506.63
90: Optical, photographic, cinematographic, measuring, checking, precision, medical or surgical instruments and apparatus; parts and accessories thereof	5,236,386.91
95: Toys, games and sports requisites; parts and accessories thereof	4,697,106.66
74: Copper and articles thereof	4,623,732.86
53: Other vegetable textile fibres; paper yarn and woven fabrics of paper yarn	4,284,089.59
39: Plastics and articles thereof	2,007,330.76
55: Man-made staple fibres	1,886,707.80
65: Headgear and parts thereof	1,299,303.13
87: Vehicles others than railway or tramway rolling-stock, and parts and accessories thereof	1,255,516.14
72: Iron and steel	1,255,025.27
40: Rubber and articles thereof	831,268.66
75: Nickel and articles thereof	813,021.45
46: Manufactures of straw, of esparto or of other plaiting materials; basketware and wickerwork	748,598.37
86: Railway or tramway locomotives, rolling-stock and parts thereof; railway or tramway track fixtures and fittings and parts thereof; mechanical (incl. electro-mechanical) traffic signalling equipment of all kinds	615,306.43
12: Oil seeds and oleaginous fruits; miscellaneous grains, seeds and fruit; industrial or medicinal plants; straw and fodder	558,659.21
19: Preparations of cereals, flour, starch or milk; pastrycooks' products	503,735.56
04: Dairy produce; bird's eggs; natural honey; edible products of animal origin, not elsewhere specified or included	459,985.67
67: Prepared feathers and down and articles made of feathers or of down; artificial flowers; articles of human hair	325,613.49
11: Products of the milling industry; malt; starches; inulin; wheat gluten	272,981.81
71: Natural or cultured pearls, precious or semi-precious stones, precious metals, metals clad with precious metal and articles thereof; imitation jewellery; coin	249,778.35
48: Paper or paperboard; articles of paper pulp, of paper or paperboard	240,199.89
54: Man-made filaments	134,778.83
91: Clocks and watches and parts thereof	106,502.48
58: Special woven fabrics; tufted textile fabrics; lace; tapestries;trimmings; embroidery	99,291.00
57: Carpets and other textile floor covering	93,939.29
15: Animal or vegetable fats and oils and their cleavage products; prepared edible fats, animal or vegetable waxes.	61,831.61
73: Articles of iron or steel	60,960.83
20: Preparation of vegetables, fruit, nuts or other parts of plants	56,839.92
09: Coffee, tea, mate and spices	47,848.40
10: Cereals	26,907.84
52: Cotton	12,405.82
69: Ceramic products	8,740.41
25: Salt, sulphur; earths and stone; plastering materials, lirne and cement	7,703.98
96: Miscellaneous manufactured articles	7,152.44
32: Tanning or dyeing extracts; tannin and their derivatives; dyes pigments and other colouring matter; paints and varnishes; putty and other mastic; inks	6,312.37
60: Knitted or crocheted fabrics	5,586.64
70: Glass and glassware	4,106.85
06: Live trees and other plants, bulbs, roots, and the like; cut flowers and ornamental foliage	3,006.02
22: Beverages, spirits and vinegar	1,521.84
98: Miscellaneous National Provisions	674.44
30: Pharmaceutical products	499.98
82: Tools, implements, cutlery, spoons and forks, of base metal; parts thereof of base metal	451.83
17: Sugar and sugar confectionery	291.62
83: Miscellaneous articles of base metal	196.64
01: Live animals.	58.98
44: Wood and articles of wood; wood charcoal	14.03
07: Edible vegetables and certain root and tubers	4.98