In 2022, the volume of bilateral trade between Korea and Bangladesh exceeded 3.0 billion US dollars, setting a new high. According to statistics from the Korea International Trade Association, the volume of bilateral trade in 2022 totaled USD 3.035 billion, a rise of 38.71 percent from USD 2.188 billion in 2021. While Korea’s exports to Bangladesh increased by 44.10 percent in 2022 to USD 2.357 billion from USD 1.636 billion in 2021, Bangladesh’s exports to Korea increased by 22.9 percent in 2022 to USD 678 million from USD 552 million the previous year.
Since 2007, when exports from Bangladesh to Korea first surpassed the $100 million mark, they have steadily grown, reaching $200 million in 2011 and $300 million in 2013. However, it had been static for about 10 years before dropping by 2.9 percent in 2020 and registering USD 393 million as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic’s detrimental impacts.
The amount saw a significant uptick in 2021, rising to USD 552 million with a sharp increase of 40.40 percent year-over-year, and another record high of USD 678 million in 2022 with an increase of 22.9 percent year-over-year. RMG, leisure and sports goods, bronze scraps, and other goods are Bangladesh’s main exports to Korea. RMG, which accounts for 83.20 percent of all exports to Korea, recorded USD 564 million in 2022, up 25.8 percent from the previous year. In contrast, sales of paper products and favorite foods soared by 168.60 percent and 165 percent, respectively, to USD 3.6 million and USD 3.1 million. The amount saw a significant uptick in 2021, rising to USD 552 million with a sharp increase of 40.40 percent year-over-year, and another record high of USD 678 million in 2022 with an increase of 22.9 percent year-over-year. RMG, leisure and sports goods, bronze scraps, and other goods are Bangladesh’s main exports to Korea. RMG, which accounts for 83.20 percent of all exports to Korea, recorded USD 564 million in 2022, up 25.8 percent from the previous year. In contrast, sales of paper products and favorite foods soared by 168.60 percent and 165 percent, respectively, to USD 3.6 million and USD 3.1 million.
Exports of bronze scrap rose by 41.8 percent to USD 17.76 million. Korea’s exports to Bangladesh, which peaked at USD 1.63 million in 2011, then fell sharply and stayed at around USD 1.2 billion for almost ten years. It worsened even more in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, reaching USD 1.03 billion. It finally recovered in 2021, increasing by 58.3 percent year over year to USD 1.636 billion and by 44.10 percent year over year to USD 2.357 billion in 2022 after a decade of stagnation.
However, the rise in Bangladesh’s import of Korean diesel, which increased by 703.80% to USD 972 million in 2022, was the main driver of Korea’s export growth to Bangladesh in 2021 and 2022. Diesel exports from Korea to Bangladesh increased by 450 percent to USD 121 million in 2021. Machines, petrochemicals, steel, pesticides, and other common Korean exports to Bangladesh all fell in 2022.
According to a representative of the Korean Embassy in Dhaka, the import restrictions put in place by the Bangladeshi government as a result of the country’s low foreign reserve situation following the Ukraine-Russian War appear to be the main cause. The COVID-19 pandemic and the Russian-Ukrainian war-related global economic challenges will be overcome, according to Ambassador Lee, by 2023, the year that Korea and Bangladesh celebrate the establishment of diplomatic relations and the 50th anniversary of those relations. He also hoped that Bangladesh’s business community would benefit from Korea’s preferential trade policy, which has granted duty-free and quota-free access to the Korean market to 95% of Bangladeshi products since 2008.
The government of Bangladesh will also provide cash incentives worth at least 4% for exports to Korea, a non-traditional market. The Ambassador also expressed his confidence that these measures, along with the opening of the Korean Embassy in Dhaka and the strengthening of economic ties between both countries, will create a win-win situation for both countries in terms of increased trade and investment
