The country’s overall export earnings recorded a marginal growth during the July-May period of current fiscal year 2014-15. The export receipts stood at $28.14 billion showing a 2.83 per cent growth during the period though it fell short of target by 6.01 per cent, according to Export Promotion Bureau (EPB) data released Monday. However, the single month earnings bounced back in May 2015 with earnings worth $2.84 billion marking a 4.37 per cent growth. The merchandise shipments last month failed to achieve the target set for the month by 8.57 per cent. In April 2015, the export earnings witnessed a negative growth of 0.55 per cent, the data showed. Apparel exports, both knit and woven products, however, witnessed a 6.84 per cent growth last month compared to that of May 2014. Export of apparel products in July and August 2014 witnessed a 0.07 and 4.23 per cent growth respectively compared to that of same period in 2013. But export earnings fell by 2.06 per cent and 9.69 per cent in the next two months-September and October-while it bounced back in November with 9.71 per cent growth in the same year. In December, the growth slowed down to 2.38 per cent while it maintained a moderate growth of over 7.0 per cent from January to March in 2015. The growth again slowed down to 1.16 per cent in April of this year. The country fetched $1.19 billion from export of woven items marking a 9.80 per cent growth while earnings from knit products stood at $1.15 billion with a 3.94 per cent growth in May 2015. Knitwear earnings stood at $11.16 billion during the July-May period of current fiscal showing 2.28 per cent growth compared to that of last fiscal. Woven products fetched $11.75 billion registering a 4.43 per cent growth during the same period. But both the sectors failed to achieve the targets by 6.31 per cent and 4.72 per cent respectively set for the period. When asked, Abdus Salam Murshedy, former president of the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA), said the sector failed to achieve the targeted growth of 10 per cent during the current fiscal year due to various reasons including recent political turmoil, devaluation of currencies in major importing countries and ongoing safety initiatives. Moreover, the competitiveness of the sector is also declining due to rising cost of production. On the other hand, buyers are not increasing prices of the products, he added. Earnings from frozen food sector grew negatively by 8.39 per cent and stood at 529.92 million during the July-May period. Golam Mostafa, vice president of the Bangladesh Frozen Food Exporters Association (BFFEA), attributed this to falling prices of frozen fish in the global market. Export of leather and leather goods witnessed a negative growth of 0.29 per cent during the period.
