page_title: Textile industry in Bangladesh
section_title: Readymade garment (RMG) industry
hierarchical_section_title: Textile industry in Bangladesh / Readymade garment (RMG) industry
caption_attribution_description: English: Garments Product Made in Bangladesh
context_page_description: The textile and clothing industries provide the single source of growth in Bangladesh's rapidly developing economy. Exports of textiles and garments are the principal source of foreign exchange earnings. By 2002 exports of textiles, clothing, and ready-made garments accounted for 77% of Bangladesh's total merchandise exports.
  In 1972, the World Bank approximated the gross domestic product of Bangladesh at US$6.29 billion, and it grew to $173.82 billion by 2014, with $31.2 billion of that generated by exports, 82% of which was ready-made garments. As of 2016 Bangladesh held the 2nd place in producing garments just after China. Bangladesh is the world's second-largest apparel exporter of western fast fashion brands. Sixty percent of the export contracts of western brands are with European buyers and about thirty percent with American buyers and ten percent to others. Only 5% of textile factories are owned by foreign investors, with most of the production being controlled by local investors.
context_section_description: RMGs are the finished textile product from clothing factories and the Bangladeshi RMG Sector is one of the fastest growing sectors in the Bangladeshi economy, with a growth rate of 55% from 2002 to 2012. Exports of textiles, clothing, and ready-made garments (RMG) accounted for 77% of Bangladesh's total merchandise exports in 2002.
  By 2005 the (RMG) industry was the only multibillion-dollar manufacturing and export industry in Bangladesh, accounting for 75 per cent of the country's earnings in that year. Bangladesh's export trade is now dominated by the ready-made garments (RMG) industry. In 2012 Bangladesh's garment exports – mainly to the US and Europe – made up nearly 80% of the country's export income. By 2014 the RMG industry represented 81.13 percent of Bangladesh's total export. Much of the tremendous growth of the sector and its role as an economic powerhouse for the country is attributed to the availability of "cheap" labor. Of the four million workers employed by the RMG industry, 85% are illiterate women from rural villages. The working environments and conditions of the factories that produce ready-made garments has undergone criticism in recent years concerning worker safety and fair wages.
  Subcontracting is a major component of the RMG industry in Bangladesh. Many Western companies contract different factories, only requesting that certain quotas be met at certain times. Companies prefer subcontracting because the degree of separation presumably removes them of liability of wage and labor violations. It also makes it easier to distribute production across a variety of sources.
caption: Garment products made in Bangladesh
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