Britain’s exit from the European Union is yet to have any impact on Bangladesh’s export business and the country’s export earnings in the July-August period of the current financial year 2016-17 witnessed a reasonable growth in most of the EU countries and the United Kingdom. The export earnings, however, witnessed a negative growth in the United States, the largest export destination for Bangladesh, while export to China achieved a strong growth in two months of FY17. Experts and exporters said that the Brexit was yet to hit the export business directly and the export earnings in the EU and the UK were still on the rise.They said that the earnings from the US market experienced a negative growth in the first two months of the current financial year as the overall prices in the US decreased. Except Canada and Italy, export earnings from the EU countries witnessed a positive growth in the July-August period of FY17. The earnings from the US in the two months of FY17 fell by 5.27 per cent to $997.51 million from $1.05 billion in the same period of FY16, according to the Export Promotion Bureau data. The data showed that the export earnings from Germany, the second largest destination for Bangladesh, grew by 10.29 per cent to $976.51 million in the July-August period of FY17 from $885.34 million in the same period of the previous year. Earnings from China in the two months of FY17 grew by 34.56 per cent to $143.71 million from $106.80 million in the same period of the previous financial year.‘Export earnings growth in the EU countries and the UK maintain the upward trend as Brexit is yet to have any direct impact on export business,’ Centre for Policy Dialogue executive director Mustafizur Rahman told New Age on Saturday. He said that the export earnings growth in the China market was encouraging for Bangladesh and the exporters needed to pay more attention to the market. According to Mustafiz, the negative growth in the US market was the impact of price affect as the overall price in the market decreased. Earnings from the UK, the third biggest export destination for Bangladesh, in the July-August period of FY17 grew by 3.36 per cent to $606.16 million from $586.44 million in the same period of the previous financial year. The UK growth was minimal due to the recent devaluation of the pound against the dollar, Mustafiz said.Sahidullah Azim, former vice-president of the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association, said that the Brexit was yet to have any direct impact on export business but the devaluation of currency took place due to the Brexit and it was one of the reasons for the slow export growth in the market.‘Overall prices have decreased in the US market as the US businesses are observing the situation on the eve of the presidential election there,’ he said. After the election, the export growth in the US market would rebound, Azim hoped.He said that China was the most promising market for Bangladesh and the export earnings growth would increase more in the market in the coming days as most of the renowned global brands were going to start business to cater to its domestic market demand. Azim said that the export earnings growth in Canada and Italy would be positive in the month of October when the shipment of winter products would start.Export earnings from Canada in July-August of FY17 fell by 4.68 per cent to $186.54 million from $195.71 million in the same period of the previous financial year.Export earnings from Italy in the two months of FY17 decreased by 2.01 per cent to $220.68 million from $225.22 million in the same period of FY16. Exports to Spain grew by 16.11 per cent to $368.21 million while earnings from France fetched $279.87 million with an 11.57-per cent growth.Export earnings from Japan in the July-August period of FY17 grew by 6.82 per cent to $191.28 million from $179.06 million in the same period of FY16.
