The export earnings from India rebounded in the just concluded fiscal year 2014-2015 and grew by 15 per cent after a negative growth in the previous fiscal year while the growth in export earnings from China abruptly slowed down in the last fiscal year, according to the Export Promotion Bureau data. The export growth to China slowed down to 6 per cent in the FY15 compared with that of 62 per cent growth in the FY 2013-2014. In the July-June period of the FY15, Bangladesh’s exports to the USA also increased slightly by 3.5 per cent compared with that of the FY14, the data showed. EPB officials and an expert said the export earnings from India bounced back riding on an increase in exports of jute and jute goods, plastic goods and readymade garment items. Appreciation of the Bangladeshi currency taka against the India’s rupee, which suffered depreciation against the euro, also contributed to the recovery in export to the market, they said. On the other hand, the export growth to China was affected due to a slowdown in economic activities in that country. They, however, said that overall export earnings growth in the countries was affected in the year as political turmoil in the country and decline in the prices of RMG items on the global market hurt the export business. According to the EPB data, the export earnings from India in the July-June period in the last fiscal year stood at $527.16 million against $456.63 million in the FY14. In the FY 2012-2013, the export earnings had grown by negative 19 per cent in the market, EPB data showed. In the just concluded fiscal year, the export earnings from China stood at $791 million which was $746 million in FY14, the data showed. In the US market, Bangladesh exported goods worth $5.78 billion in the fiscal year 2014-2015 against goods worth $5.58 billion exported in the previous fiscal year. Policy Research Institute executive director Ahsan H Mansur said that political unrest in the country and exchange rate affected Bangladesh’s competiveness in the exports to these countries. The political uncertainty resulted in a diversion of a significant number of export orders to other countries, he said. The growth in export to the China market fell due to a slowdown in the economic growth in that country, he said adding that the Chinese economy grew only by 7 per cent in the last year which had grew by 10 per cent in the previous year. Exports from other countries to China also fell in the year, he said. According to the EPB data, the export of leather goods to China fell to $112 million in the year from $158 million in the FY14 while the export of RMG items, a major export item of Bangladesh, increased to $305 million from $242 million. In the case of Indian market, in the FY15 the Bangladesh’s exports of jute and jute goods increased to $90 million in the FY15 from $80 million, apparel items to $102 million from $95 million and plastic goods to $13 million from $5 million in the FY14. The exports of jute and jute products, and apparel items to the US market also increased slightly in the fiscal year compared with that of the FY14.
