To Explore Latin American Markets
Md. Joynal Abdin
Founder & Chief Executive Officer, Trade & Investment Bangladesh (T&IB)
Editor, T&IB Business Directory; Executive Director, Online Training Academy (OTA)
Secretary General, Brazil Bangladesh Chamber of Commerce & Industry (BBCCI)
For Bangladesh, the search for sustainable export growth now requires more than doing more business in traditional destinations. The country has built an impressive export machine, but the next stage of trade expansion depends on market diversification, product diversification, and stronger institutional engagement in non-traditional regions. Bangladesh’s own Export Policy 2024–2027 explicitly emphasizes exactly that: diversifying products and services, expanding markets, supporting non-RMG sectors, and sending trade delegations to potential export destinations. The policy identifies ready-made garments as the foundation of export growth, while also stressing processed food, leather goods and footwear, light engineering, jute and jute goods, pharmaceuticals, ICT, BPO, tourism, fish, fruits, vegetables, and dairy products as promising sectors for diversification.
Latin America deserves serious attention within that strategy. It is not a marginal region. The World Bank’s latest regional data show Latin America and the Caribbean with a population of roughly 662 million and a 2024 GDP of about US$7.11 trillion. That means Bangladesh is not looking at a niche destination, but at a very large consumer and industrial region with diversified economies, major food and raw-material exporters, growing retail markets, and significant demand for manufactured imports.
Within this region, Brazil stands out as the natural entry point for Bangladesh. It is already Bangladesh’s largest Latin American trade partner by a very wide margin. According to UN Comtrade-based figures surfaced through recent trade databases, Brazil exported about US$2.72 billion to Bangladesh in 2025, while Brazil’s imports from Bangladesh reached about US$281.79 million in 2025. At the fiscal-year level, Bangladesh’s exports to Brazil reached about US$187 million in FY2024–25, up 26% from US$147 million a year earlier.
That trade structure reveals two realities at the same time. First, Bangladesh already has a functioning commercial corridor with Brazil. Second, the relationship remains heavily imbalanced, meaning there is still substantial room to raise Bangladeshi exports. The case for exploring Latin America, therefore, is not merely aspirational. It is practical, timely, and strategically aligned with Bangladesh’s export policy, post-LDC graduation priorities, and search for resilient South-South trade partnerships.
Why Latin America Matters for Bangladesh?
Bangladesh’s export success has long been concentrated in a narrow set of products and markets. The Export Policy 2024–2027 recognizes that overdependence on a few destinations is risky, especially in a changing global trade environment marked by tighter standards, shifting tariff preferences, and supply-chain volatility after LDC graduation. Latin America offers Bangladesh an opportunity to reduce that concentration risk by entering economies that are geographically distant but commercially complementary.
The complementarity is clear. Bangladesh is strong in labor-intensive manufactured goods, especially apparel and several non-RMG consumer products. Latin America, by contrast, contains major importers of manufactured consumer items and also major exporters of agricultural commodities, edible oils, cotton, minerals, and industrial raw materials. This creates the basis for two-way trade rather than one-sided transactions. Brazil’s exports to Bangladesh are already dominated by raw sugar, raw cotton, and soybeans, while Argentina’s exports to Bangladesh prominently include wheat and soybean oil. Chile and Peru, though much smaller partners, offer items such as scrap iron, fish oil, and zinc that are useful for Bangladesh’s industry.
Latin America also should not be viewed as only Brazil. Mexico, Chile, Peru, Argentina, Colombia, and several Central American and Caribbean markets can each serve different Bangladeshi sectors. Trade data already show Bangladesh selling apparel to Mexico, Chile, Peru, and Argentina. Mexico imported about US$728.81 million from Bangladesh in 2025, while Chile imported about US$268.56 million, indicating that Bangladeshi products can compete beyond South Asia, Europe, and North America. Peru’s imports from Bangladesh in 2024 were led by non-knit men’s suits, knit T-shirts, and non-knit women’s suits, while Argentina’s imports from Bangladesh in early 2026 included knit sweaters, knit T-shirts, and women’s suits.
Top 10 Export-Potential Bangladeshi Products for Brazil and Other Latin American Markets
1. Ready-Made Garments
The first and most obvious product category is ready-made garments. Bangladesh’s export policy identifies RMG as the foundation of the country’s industrialization and export growth, and apparel remains its most globally recognized competitive sector. Latin American markets, especially Brazil, Mexico, Chile, Peru, and Argentina, already import Bangladeshi apparel, which proves that market entry has moved beyond theory. Mexico’s trade overview with Bangladesh shows clothing among Bangladesh’s leading export items, while Peru and Argentina’s recent bilateral trade profiles also confirm apparel-led demand.
For Bangladesh, Latin America should be approached not as a substitute for Europe or the United States, but as a diversification frontier for value-segment apparel, uniforms, basic knitwear, denim, cotton trousers, T-shirts, sweaters, and private-label sourcing. Brazil in particular has a large domestic consumer base, but it is also a market with local manufacturing sensitivities and regulatory complexity. That means Bangladeshi exporters need distributor partnerships, regulatory compliance, product labeling localization, and long-term relationship building rather than opportunistic selling.
2. Home Textiles
Home textiles are a natural extension of Bangladesh’s textile ecosystem. Once a buyer trusts Bangladesh for apparel, the conversation can expand into bedsheets, towels, kitchen textiles, table linen, curtains, and institutional textile supplies. These products fit Latin American demand from hospitality, retail chains, e-commerce platforms, and household value segments. Bangladesh already promotes home textiles as a key exportable category in trade outreach materials aimed at Latin American buyers.
3. Jute and Jute Goods
Jute is one of Bangladesh’s most distinctive export identities. The Export Policy 2024–2027 specifically highlights jute and jute products as priority non-RMG sectors. In Latin America, the strongest opportunity for jute lies in the global shift toward sustainability, eco-packaging, reusable shopping products, agro-use fabrics, and natural-fiber branding. As environmental consciousness rises among retailers and agribusinesses, Bangladeshi jute bags, shopping bags, promotional items, floor coverings, and industrial jute fabrics can be positioned as both practical and sustainable.
4. Leather and Leather Goods
Leather and leather goods also sit clearly within Bangladesh’s diversification agenda. The export policy singles out leather goods and footwear as promising sectors. In Latin America, Bangladesh can target fashion accessories, belts, wallets, handbags, safety footwear, and value-priced leather shoes. Brazil itself has a sophisticated leather tradition, but this does not eliminate opportunity; rather, it shifts the emphasis toward mid-market sourcing, subcontracting, niche categories, and B2B supply relationships in segments where Bangladeshi price competitiveness matters.
5. Footwear
Footwear deserves separate attention from leather goods because the opportunity includes both leather and non-leather segments. Bangladesh can compete in affordable lifestyle footwear, sandals, work shoes, and private-label manufacturing. Trade data from Mexico and Peru already show Bangladeshi footwear present in these markets, though still at modest levels compared with apparel. That is significant because it demonstrates pathway potential: once apparel importers trust Bangladesh, adjacent soft-goods categories become easier to introduce.
6. Pharmaceuticals
Pharmaceuticals are strategically important because they move Bangladesh beyond the image of a purely apparel exporter. The Export Policy 2024–2027 identifies pharmaceutical products as promising, and both Bangladeshi trade promotion narratives and Bangladesh–Brazil business discussions regularly mention pharmaceuticals as a sector with bilateral potential. In Latin America, however, pharmaceuticals require careful regulatory planning, product registration, documentation, and partnership with local distributors or healthcare importers. This is a slower market than garments, but potentially more stable and higher-value.
7. Frozen Fish and Seafood
The policy also places emphasis on fish and frozen fish as part of agricultural export diversification. Latin American markets with urban retail chains, restaurants, and diaspora-linked consumption patterns can absorb frozen fish and seafood products if Bangladeshi exporters maintain strict sanitary, phytosanitary, and cold-chain compliance. For Bangladesh, seafood exports to Latin America may begin in niche channels and then expand through import agents that already handle Asian products.
8. Agro-Processed Foods
Processed food is another explicit export-policy priority. Bangladesh can explore spice mixes, snacks, processed agricultural items, specialty rice-based foods, confectionery, halal-oriented products, and selected ethnic foods for Latin American wholesalers and retailers. The real value here lies not only in diaspora demand but also in supermarket diversification and food-service sourcing. Success will depend on labeling, packaging, shelf-life management, and sanitary approvals.
9. Ceramics and Tableware
Bangladesh’s ceramics sector is often under-discussed in mainstream trade strategy, yet it offers a credible opening in Latin America, especially in hospitality, homeware retail, and institutional purchasing. Bangladeshi trade-promotion campaigns directed abroad frequently include ceramics among showcase sectors. For markets such as Brazil, Chile, and Peru, ceramics can be promoted through design-sensitive catalog selling, hotel supply channels, and distributor-led imports.
10. ICT and IT-Enabled Services
The final category moves beyond goods. Bangladesh’s Export Policy 2024–2027 identifies ICT services, software, and BPO as promising service exports. Latin America may not be the first market Bangladeshi firms think of for digital services, but the opportunity is real in website development, back-office support, graphic production, coding support, data services, and SME digital transformation. This is especially attractive because services face lower freight barriers than goods. In the long run, digital trade could become one of the easiest ways for Bangladesh to deepen commercial links with Latin America without waiting for large-scale logistics integration.
Brazil and Other Latin American Markets: How Bangladesh Should Read the Region
Brazil should be treated as the anchor market. It is large, already connected to Bangladesh through substantial two-way trade, and institutionally important because success there can build credibility across South America. Public trade data show Brazil as a far larger partner than other Latin American destinations in Bangladesh’s import structure, while Bangladesh’s export growth to Brazil has also been improving. Brazil’s role in supplying raw sugar, raw cotton, and soybeans to Bangladesh shows that strong commercial lanes already exist. Those same lanes can be used to push back more Bangladeshi exports if the right promotional, regulatory, and matchmaking support is created.
Mexico should be treated as a parallel apparel market rather than merely a secondary one. DCCI’s bilateral trade overview shows Bangladesh with a large export surplus in goods trade with Mexico, and identifies Bangladeshi shipments such as cotton trousers, T-shirts, pullovers, shirts, and footwear. That means Bangladesh is already commercially relevant there and can move from transactional apparel selling toward a broader product basket.
Chile and Peru are smaller in size but attractive as focused markets. Chile imported about US$268.56 million from Bangladesh in 2025, while Peru’s product profile shows established Bangladeshi strength in apparel. These are promising destinations for garments, home textiles, footwear, and selected lifestyle goods where reliable sourcing matters more than sheer scale.
Argentina matters for a different reason. Bangladesh’s import relationship with Argentina is already meaningful in cereals and oils, especially wheat and soybean oil. That makes Argentina commercially relevant even if Bangladesh’s exports there are still smaller than in Mexico or Brazil. Argentina can be viewed as both a supply partner for Bangladesh and a medium-term destination for Bangladeshi consumer goods, particularly apparel.
Top 10 Latin American Products to Import Profitably into Bangladesh
For Bangladesh, exploring Latin America should never mean exports alone. The stronger strategy is reciprocal trade. The following ten product categories offer particularly strong commercial logic.
First, raw cotton is central because Bangladesh’s textile and garment sector depends heavily on imported cotton. USDA reporting and related trade coverage show Brazil emerging as Bangladesh’s leading cotton supplier in MY2024/25, with around 1.9 million bales and roughly a quarter of imports. That is commercially significant for Bangladesh’s largest export industry.
Second, raw sugar is already one of Brazil’s major exports to Bangladesh and remains important for Bangladesh’s food-processing and refining ecosystem.
Third, soybeans deserve attention because they support Bangladesh’s edible oil, feed, and processing industries. Brazil’s exports to Bangladesh prominently include soybeans.
Fourth, soybean oil is highly relevant, especially from Argentina, whose shipments to Bangladesh prominently include soybean oil. For a food-importing economy, this is a commercially strategic line.
Fifth, wheat from Argentina is another profitable and necessary import category, especially given Bangladesh’s demand for food grains and industrial food inputs.
Sixth, maize and animal feed ingredients from Latin America can strengthen Bangladesh’s poultry, livestock, and feed sectors, particularly when sourced from large agricultural exporters in the region. Bangladesh’s government and media discussions with Brazil have repeatedly pointed to broader agro-supply opportunities.
Seventh, scrap iron and steel inputs, especially from Chile and Peru-linked trade channels, can be useful for Bangladesh’s re-rolling, engineering, and metalworking industries. Chile’s recent trade profile with Bangladesh shows scrap iron among the main items.
Eighth, fish oil from Chile offers value for feed, nutrition, and industrial processing uses. Trade data show fish oil among Chile’s recent exports to Bangladesh.
Ninth, zinc and other mineral inputs from Peru can support Bangladesh’s industrial and manufacturing value chains. Peru’s exports to Bangladesh in 2024 included raw zinc and zinc sheets.
Tenth, selected machinery, electrical goods, chemicals, and medical or industrial equipment from Mexico can be profitable in Bangladesh where product quality, specialized applications, and supply diversification matter. DCCI’s Mexico overview lists chemicals, machinery, electrical equipment, optical and medical apparatus, and prepared food categories among Mexico’s main exports to Bangladesh.
The Role of BBCCI in Exploring Latin American Markets
No export strategy succeeds on product strength alone. Institutions matter. This is where the Brazil Bangladesh Chamber of Commerce & Industry can play a decisive role. BBCCI’s official mission is to facilitate trade and investment flows between Brazil and Bangladesh through networking, advocacy, and knowledge exchange. Its published organizational structure also highlights trade and investment work, market research, business matchmaking, and engagement with government agencies and sectoral stakeholders.
That mandate is highly relevant because Latin America is not an easy walk-in market for a first-time Bangladeshi exporter. The region requires market intelligence, distributor identification, buyer-seller matchmaking, translation support, country-by-country regulatory orientation, product positioning, trade fair participation, and confidence-building through face-to-face contact. BBCCI is structurally suited to reduce these frictions.
The chamber’s practical importance is already visible in its trade-promotion efforts. BBCCI’s Made in Bangladesh Expo 2025 in São Paulo was framed as a platform to forge partnerships, attract investment, strengthen South-South trade connections, and showcase Bangladeshi products to Brazilian and wider Latin American buyers. Public materials around the expo emphasize export promotion, market diversification, bilateral trade, and business networking as core objectives.
In practical terms, BBCCI can contribute in at least six high-impact ways. It can identify sector-specific opportunities for Bangladeshi exporters. It can organize trade delegations and B2B meetings in Brazil and adjacent markets. It can help Bangladeshi firms understand import regulations, documentation, and certification pathways. It can support relationship-building with Latin American chambers, trade associations, and government agencies. It can encourage reciprocal sourcing from Latin America into Bangladesh. And it can strengthen the narrative that Bangladesh is not only an apparel exporter, but a broader trade and investment partner. These functions are fully consistent with BBCCI’s official mission, committee structure, membership value proposition, and expo activities.
Conclusion
To explore Latin American markets is not simply to chase distant buyers. It is to reposition Bangladesh within a broader South-South commercial geography. The region is large, economically significant, and commercially complementary to Bangladesh. Brazil already provides proof that a meaningful trade corridor exists. Mexico, Chile, Peru, and Argentina provide further evidence that Bangladesh’s products especially apparel can travel and compete across Latin America.
For Bangladesh, the export opportunity lies in a smarter basket: garments, home textiles, jute, leather goods, footwear, pharmaceuticals, seafood, processed foods, ceramics, and ICT services. The import opportunity lies in cotton, sugar, soybeans, soybean oil, wheat, feed inputs, scrap metal, fish oil, zinc, and selected machinery and chemicals. That is the basis of a more mature relationship with Latin America: Bangladesh exports more value-added products while importing strategic industrial and agricultural inputs.
In this journey, BBCCI has a strategic role far beyond ceremonial representation. It can become the bridge institution that connects Bangladeshi producers with Latin American buyers, Bangladeshi importers with Latin American suppliers, and both sides with the information and trust required to do business effectively. If Bangladesh wants to diversify markets seriously after LDC graduation, Latin America should move from the margins of trade strategy to the center of long-term planning, and BBCCI can be one of the institutions that makes that shift real.