Exports rose by 4.0 per cent to $3.31 billion in January this year against the same month a year earlier as the readymade garment continued to attract foreign buyers.The export earnings ($3.31 billion) in January this year was 6.43 per cent higher compared to month of December, but the earning was short of the target of $3.40 billion, said the data at the Export Promotion Bureau.With the export earnings in January, the country fetched export earnings of $20.11 billion, in the first seven months of the ongoing fiscal year (2016-17). The export earning was 4.36 per cent higher than the earnings in the same period in the last fiscal year.Garments, which account for some 80 per cent of the export receipts, fetched $2.7 billion, up 3.05 per cent year-on-year and 4.65 per cent month-on-month.Garment export to the US, the country’s single largest export destination, declined 1.49 per cent to $5.11 billion during the January-November period of 2016, according to data from the US Department of Commerce.Garment export to the UK, the third largest destination, declined 5.19 per cent in the first six months of the fiscal year.To achieve the sector’s export target of $50 billion by 2021, more than 12.25 percent export growth is needed every year.In the first seven months of fiscal 2016-17, $16.41 billion worth of garment products were shipped, up 4.12 percent year-on-year. The receipts missed the seven-month target of $17.28 billion.Jute and jute goods sector was one of the top export performers during the July-January period, with shipments rising 14.05 per cent year-on-year to $563.98 million. It was also higher than its periodic target of $548.26 million.Shipments of leather and leather goods grew well during the seven-month period. It stood at $743.77 million, up 12.18 per cent year-on-year. This segment too hit its periodic target of $693.85 million.Furniture exports soared 23.37 per cent to $23.65 million and pharmaceuticals 8.51 per cent to $52.64 million.Home textile exports increased 1.42 per cent to $427.21 million and plastic products 45.74 per cent to $75.39 million on the back of the 10 percent cash incentive on shipments. Some sectors showed poor performance during the period.Among the poor performers, frozen and live fishes exports declined 0.80 percent to $329.15 million; it is 6.98 percent higher than the target of $307.68 million.Exports of petroleum byproducts declined 28.24 per cent to $149.50 million.The government has set the export target of $37 billion for the fiscal year, which is 8 per cent higher than fiscal 2015-16’s receipts.
