The Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) has officially launched a "Japan Desk" at its Uttara headquarters in Dhaka, positioning it as a one-stop platform for connecting with Japanese buyers and investors, with the goal of raising garment exports to Japan from the current roughly $1.2 billion to $5 billion.

Key points

  • BGMEA unveiled the Japan Desk on September 29, with Japanese Ambassador to Bangladesh Saida Shinichi and BGMEA President Mahmud Hasan Khan in attendance.
  • 272 factories have been designated to serve the Japanese market exclusively, an increase of 100 over the previous 172.
  • Bangladesh's garment exports to Japan have been stuck in the $1-1.5 billion range for nearly a decade. In fiscal year 2025-26, exports to Japan reached $1.36 billion, down 3.65% year on year and below the target of 18.56%.

The Japan Desk has been in preparation since last year. Bangladesh's garment industry, together with Japanese policymakers and buyers, first formed a committee called "Strategic Market Development," spending a year identifying export barriers and coordinating response strategies. The 272 designated factories are among the first outcomes of that process. According to BGMEA, these factories produce to the specific standards of Japanese brands and buyers such as Uniqlo, Muji, GU and Shimamura. They can still take orders from other countries based on their own capacity, but garments sold to Japan must separately comply with Quality rules, with the Japan Desk overseeing compliance.

BGMEA director and Bangla Garments Limited managing director Mohammed Sohel, who coordinates the Strategic Market Development committee, said this is the first time in Bangladesh's history that an independent desk for a single target country has been set up within the association. "Our garment exports to Japan have been stagnant, and even in years of growth, the increase was very limited," he said, adding that amid growing global trade uncertainty, the industry hopes to use this long-term plan to unlock the Japanese market. According to him, Japanese consumers value standards more than price. "They don't mind paying more," but they inspect item by item. Japan's apparel market is worth about $25 billion, and Bangladesh currently captures only about 5%.

Japan is not a new market for Bangladesh, yet breakthroughs have remained elusive. For nearly a decade, exports to Japan have hovered between $1 billion and $1.5 billion, retreating after hitting a record $1.45 billion in fiscal year 2022-23. In fiscal year 2025-26, Bangladesh's total exports to Japan were $1.36 billion, of which garments accounted for $1.16 billion, down from $1.41 billion the previous fiscal year. According to Export Promotion Bureau (EPB) data, exports to Japan in the first two months of the current fiscal year (July-August) totaled $263.8 million, down 0.30% year on year, with the garment portion at $2.272 million, up 1.33% year on year.

Notably, Bangladesh and Japan signed an Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) on February 6 this year, granting 7,379 Bangladeshi products duty-free access to the Japanese market — the country's first EPA. But industry players believe the agreement has yet to translate into export growth. Fazlul Hoque, administrator of the Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FBCCI) and a former BKMEA president, acknowledged that the government and exporters have for years focused mainly on the United States and Europe, paying insufficient attention to the Japanese market, and that the absence of collective action has kept exports from even surpassing $1.5 billion.

BKMEA executive president and Fatullah Apparels Limited managing director Fazlee Shamim Ehsan said in an earlier interview that the product mix for Japan exports needs adjustment, and that products shipped to Europe and the US cannot simply be sold in Japan. He also cautioned the industry against the stereotype that Japanese consumers only buy expensive clothes, noting there is also substantial demand for low-priced garments there.

BGMEA President Mahmud Hasan pointed out that Bangladesh is farther from Japan than China, Vietnam, Cambodia and Indonesia, and that long lead times are the main bottleneck. He hopes the Japanese government will cooperate on reducing shipping costs and speeding up delivery, while the industry must advance product and market diversification and reduce over-reliance on a few traditional markets.

For Bangladesh's export-oriented garment industry, the Japan Desk is not merely a channel move for a single market; it also reflects how, after the low-tariff agreement took effect, supply chain responsiveness and product-category fit are becoming key variables determining where exports flow. If the 272 designated factories mechanism runs smoothly, the model could be replicated for markets beyond Japan, serving as a reference for the industry in diversifying geopolitical concentration risk.

Source: Bangladesh renews bid for Japan's $25bn garment market. Will it work this time? · Originally published 2026-09-29