The country’s export earnings in the July-November period of the current financial year 2016-17 grew by 6.3 per cent year-on-year exceeding $13.5 billion. The earnings still remained 4.17 per cent short of the target at $14.28 billion set by the government for the first five months. Export earnings in November of the FY17 grew by 5.46 per cent to $2.89 billion from $2.74 billion in the same period of the FY16, according to Export Promotion Bureau data released on Tuesday. Earnings in November are 7.26 per cent higher than the government-set target at $2.70 billion. Earnings in the July-November period of the FY17 grew by 6.30 per cent to $13.69 billion from $12.87 billion in the same period of the FY16. Earnings from readymade garments export also fell short by 5.11 per cent to $11.13 billion from its government-set target at $11.73 billion. Experts and exporters say changing dynamic of the international market might cause the slow export growth in the first five months of the current financial year. ‘Presently the dynamic in the international market is changing and this might be one of the causes of sluggish export earnings in the July-November period,’ Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies senior research fellow Nazneen Ahmed told New Age. She hoped that the export earnings in readymade garments would pick up in coming months and it would be possible to meet the export target set for the FY17. Export earnings from RMG export in the July-November period of the FY17 grew by 6.39 per cent to $11.13 billion from $10.46 billion in the same period of the FY16. Export earnings from the woven in the first five months of the FY17 grew by 5.22 per cent to $5.49 billion compared with that of $5.22billion in the same period of the FY16. The earnings are 12.15per cent lower than the target at $6.25 billion set by the government. The knitwear export in the July-November period of the FY17 grew by 7.56 per cent to $5.63 billion from $5.23 billion in the same period of the FY16. Export earnings growth in the first five months of the current fiscal year failed to maintain similar trend of earnings with the previous financial year, said Mahmud Hassan Khan Babu, vice-president of the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association. He said after getting the country-wise data it could be identified the actual reasons but the impact of Brexit and US presidential elections might be the causes for the slow export growth. Export earnings from jute and jute goods in the first five months of the FY17increased by 7.98 per cent to $387.23 million from $358.60 million in the same period of the FY16. Export of agriculture products in the July-November period of the FY17 grew by 2.18 per cent to $220.47 million from $215.77 million in the same period of the previous year. Export earnings from home textile in the period grew by 0.38 per cent to $277.77 million from $276.73 million. Exports of leather and leather product in the first five months of the FY17 grew by 16.62 per cent to $533.91 million compared with that of $457.83 million in the same period of the FY16. Export earnings from leather-footwear export increased by 15.14 per cent to $232.89 million while leather products fetched $186.17 million with 27.77 per cent growth in the period. Exports of frozen food and fish in the July-November period of the FY17 grew by 7.16 per cent to $245.89 million from $229.45 million in the same period of the FY16. The EPB data showed that the export earnings from engineering products in the first five months of the FY17 fell by 27.29 per cent to $170.40 million from that of $234.34 million posted in the same period of the previous fiscal year.
