Bangladesh got Japan and Belgium as its two new billion-dollar export markets in the just concluded financial year 2015-16, riding on a moderate growth in the readymade garment export. Export earnings from Japan in FY 2015-16 totalled $1.07 billion, which is 17.95 per cent higher from $915.21 million posted in FY15, while earnings from Belgium grew by 4.12 per cent to $1.01 billion from $975.13 million, according to Export Promotion Bureau data.The data also showed that the country’s export to the United States in FY16 was $6.22 billion in value with 7.55 per cent growth from $5.78 billion in FY15.Earnings from the RMG export to the US in FY16 grew by 6.37 per cent to $5.62 billion from $5.28 billion in FY15. Experts and exporters said it was a good sign that Bangladesh’s exports to Japan and Belgium exceeded the billion-dollar mark but the dependency of the country’s export earnings on only one product (RMG) remained as weakness. They said that the export earnings growth in major destinations was on the rise as improved factory condition in Bangladesh encouraged buyers to raise orders. They, however, said some new challenges including militancy and exit of Britain from the EU appeared for the coming days. According to the EPB data, earnings from the RMG export to Japan in FY16 increased by 18.68 per cent to $774.47 million from $652.54 million in FY15. RMG export to Belgium in FY16 grew by 8.17 per cent to $835.32 million from $772.21 million in the previous fiscal year. ‘Our product diversification is not taking place. But the recent trend showed exports grew in some new destinations,’ Ahsan H Mansur, executive director of Policy Research Institute, told New Age on Tuesday. He said that there were some reasons for the increased export to Japan. As non-traditional market exporters get incentive for exporting to Japan and Japan also shifted some orders to Bangladesh from China, the Bangladesh’s export to the market grew, he said. Mansur said that the concentration of Bangladesh’s export was still on the industrial countries and exporters were not giving attention to two big markets — India and China.‘We need to concentrate on new markets as some uncertainties have been arisen in the United Kingdom over duty-free market access of Bangladeshi products due to Brexit,’ he said. The EPB data showed that export to the UK in FY16 grew by 18.85 per cent to $3.80 billion from $3.20 billion in the previous financial year.Earnings from RMG export to UK in FY16 increased to $3.52 billion from $2.90 billion in FY15.Export to Germany grew by 6 per cent to $4.98 billion in the just concluded FY16 from $4.70 billion in FY15. According to the data, country’s export earnings from Australia in FY16 grew by 16.27 per cent to $705.63 million from $606.88 million in FY15. Export to Spain in the financial year 2015-16 grew by 13.97 per cent to $1.99 billion from $1.75 billion in FY15. Khondoker Golam Moazzem, additional research director of the Centre for Policy Dialogue, said that the export growth in the major markets in FY16 was positive but the dependency on only one export product was the weakness of the country. He said that the export growth in the US market increased as employment generation in the US rose and the dollar was getting stronger. Bangladesh penetrated Japan in late but has already touched the $1-billion mark as Japan is increasing its export orders out of China, Moazzem said. To retain the export growth, he said that Bangladesh needs market-based policy for product diversification and the government should provide policy support to explore the potentiality of non-traditional markets.Moazzem also said that the government should set ambitious export growth target to achieve $60 billion export target in 2021. According to the EPB data, export to France in FY16 grew by 6.23 per cent to $1.85 billion from $1.74 billion in the FY15. Export earnings from Italy in FY16 grew by 0.24 per cent to $1.38 billion while earnings from Canada grew by 8.13 per cent to $1.11 billion. Anwar-Ul-Alam Chowdhury Parvez, a former president of the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association, said that the country’s export was increasing due to an improved factory condition. Bangladesh’s exports to Japan exceeded $1 billion as Japan shifted orders to Bangladesh from China due to price competitiveness, he said.Parvez said that Japanese buyers set up offices in Dhaka and also started to invest in the RMG sector in Bangladesh but the recent terror attack in which 17 foreigners including seven Japanese nationals were killed might change the scenario. ‘Brexit also created some problems. If the UK economy becomes weak due to its exit from the EU, it would affect our export to the country,’ he said.
