Exports raked in $3.19 billion in January, the second highest in the country’s history, on the back of a surge in garment shipments. The amount is an increase of 10.38 percent year-on-year but a slight drop of 0.63 percent from the previous month, which saw a record sum. In December 2015, $3.20 billion was received in export earnings, the highest in the nation’s history. January’s earnings were also 5.17 percent higher than the month’s target of $3.02 billion, according to Export Promotion Bureau. Garment exports raked in $2.63 billion last month, up 3.95 percent year-on-year but down 1.5 percent month-on-month “We hope garment exports will continue to grow at a higher rate seeing the pick-up in the economies of the major export destinations and the stable political situation in the country,” said Siddiqur Rahman, president of Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association.With the improvement in factory safety in Bangladesh, international retailers have been placing higher volumes of work orders now, he said. “The market trend is good now although we have some strong competitors on the global front such as India and Vietnam, whose exports are also increasing fast.” In future, there will be stiffer competition from Vietnam, specifically when the mega trade deal, Trans-Pacific Partnership, will come into force, he said. The deal will give Vietnam duty-free access for all products to the US market, Bangladesh’s single largest export destination. China, the largest apparel supplier worldwide, now has a market share of more than 38 percent, followed by Bangladesh at 5.09 percent. “However, our garment export to new destinations has increased significantly over the last five years for higher demand,” Rahman said. Last year, Bangladesh exported $5.5 billion worth of garment products to 11 new destinations: Australia, Japan, South Korea, Russia, Brazil, Chile, China, India, Turkey, Mexico and South Africa. Rahman called for the continuation of the current political stability if the target to export $50 billion worth of garments by the end of 2021 is to be achieved. Export earnings during July-January stood at $19.27 billion, 2 percent higher than the target for the period. Earnings from jute and jute goods were also remarkable during this period: $494 million.
