Bangladesh reduces reliance on India and strengthens its sourcing strategy as Brazil becomes its leading supplier of cotton for the textile and apparel industry.
Brazil has become Bangladesh’s largest source of raw cotton, ending India’s long-standing dominance in one of the world’s biggest textile markets. Bangladesh is the world’s second-largest ready-made garment exporter after China. This shift comes in the months after the regime change in Bangladesh that saw the ouster of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. That Brazil became Bangladesh’s top supplier, pipping India, was revealed in a report by the US Department of Agriculture (USDA), which also spoke about the regime change in the country.
However, India continues to be the main supplier of cotton yarn to Bangladesh, accounting for 82% of Bangladesh’s total imports in the marketing year 2024-2025.
The readymade garments sector accounts for over 80% of Bangladesh’s total export earnings, contributing roughly 10% to its annual GDP, according to a Reuters report in July 2025. The sector employs 4 million people, according to the report.
In the 2024-25 marketing year (August 2024-July 2025), Bangladesh imported a record 8.28 million bales of cotton. Of these, Brazil supplied 1.9 million bales (25% of the market share), while India dropped to second place with 1.4 million bales (15%), according to a US Department of Agriculture (USDA) report published in December.
Just a year earlier, India had led with 1.79 million bales and a 23% share. The spinning industry in Bangladesh utilizes raw cotton to produce two types of yarn: cotton yarn and mixed yarn. Total cotton imports in MY 2024/25 are 5.2% higher than the 7.8 million bales imported in MY 2023/24, according to the report.