Core linen shipments slowed while rags, scrap twine and miscellaneous items grew strongly, though small in scale
Dhaka, October 03,- Bangladesh's home textile exports rose 11.94% in July–September to $231.29 million, according to Export Promotion Bureau data. The figure is up from $206.62 million in the same period last year. It is the first quarter of FY2026-27.
The sector grew almost twice as fast as total merchandise exports, which rose 6.34% to $13.09 billion, and ready-made garments, which rose 6.10%. Home textiles' share of total exports edged up from 1.68% to 1.77%. Terry towel exports, reported in a separate line, fell 13.73% to $5.09 million.
Linen leads, but slowly
Bed, kitchen and toilet linen remained the largest earner. Rags and scrap twine, along with miscellaneous items, produced most of the growth. Bed, kitchen and toilet linen earned $112.62 million, nearly half (48.7%) of the sector's exports. Growth was 3.33%, so its share fell from about 52.7% a year earlier.
Miscellaneous items second. The "other" category earned $48.64 million, or 21% of the total, adding $8.02 million.
Rags and scrap twine grew fastest. Exports rose 41.71% to $41.01 million, a gain of $12.07 million. Together with "other", this line accounted for about 81% of the sector's $24.67 million increase.
Tents edged up. Tent exports were $29.02 million, a rise of 3.38%.
Monthly trend
September exports were $76.74 million, up 13.52% from September 2025 and level with August's $76.69 million. Total exports fell 11.11% from August to September, from $4.43 billion to $3.94 billion. Subtracting August and September from the quarter's total implies July exports of roughly $77.9 million. That figure is derived, not reported.
Towels
Terry towel exports fell to $5.09 million from $5.90 million a year earlier. The year before, they had fallen to $5.90 million from $6.79 million, a cumulative drop of about 25% over two years.
The decline eased within the quarter. Implied July exports were about $1.42 million, against $1.74 million in August and $1.93 million in September. September was 1.58% above the same month last year.
The line is small, about 2.2% of home textiles' size. It covers terry towelling fabric (HS 5802). Finished towels are largely reported within the 6302 linen line and are not shown separately.
Background
Home textile exports were $191.35 million in July–September 2024. They rose 7.98% to $206.62 million last year before this year's 11.94% jump. Over the same period, cotton and cotton product exports fell 12.41% to $125.11 million this year. The data does not show whether the two are linked.
Notes
"Home textile" here means HS chapter 63 excluding jute sacks and bags, so it includes tents and rags as well as household linen. All values are in US dollars. The average taka rate was 123.116 per dollar, against 121.810 a year earlier.
