The country’s export earnings growth slumped further to 3.67 per cent in the first 11 months of the current financial year 2016-17 with the earnings expected to miss the annual target set by the government because of sluggish shipment of readymade garment products to major markets. The export earnings in July-May stood at $31.79 billion, growing by 3.67 per cent from the same period of last FY when the country earned $30.66 billion with an 8.95 per cent growth year-on-year. Sluggish earning performance in May also dragged down the overall growth in 11 months from 3.92 per cent in 10 months. The earnings in July-May this year were also $1.56 billion or 4.68 per cent short of government target of $33.35 billion for 11 months. With one month remaining for the current fiscal year, it is now almost certain that the annual earning figure would be well short of target of $37 billion set by the government, said officials of the Export Promotion Bureau. Experts and exporters blamed erosion of competitive edge of the readymade garment sector for the sluggish export growth. They said that Bangladesh is losing its competitiveness in the global market due mainly to appreciation of its currency against dollar and huge investment in factory remediation as per the requirements of the global buyers. The export earnings in May totalled $3.07 billion which is 1.39 per cent higher compared with $3.02 billion in the same period of the FY17.The EPB data showed that the single-month earnings fell 8.52 per cent short of the target of $3.35 billion.‘This is the general problem of competitiveness and Bangladesh should take immediate initiative to regain its competitiveness in the global market,’ Policy Research Institute executive director Ahsan H Mansur told New Age on Tuesday. He said that due to appreciation of Taka agilest Dollar and Euro Bangladesh is losing its price competitiveness and mostly Vietnam is grabbing the market share of Bangladesh in Europe and the United States. Mansur said that if the situation continues, the government should go for broad-based currency devaluation to remain competitive in the global market. ‘It would not be possible to achieve the annual export target for this financial year anymore,’ the economist said. The EPB data showed that earnings from readymade garment exports in the July-May period of FY17 grew by 2.16 per cent to $25.62 billion from $25.08 billion in the same period of FY16. According to the EPB data, the earnings from woven garments in the 11 months stood at $13.11 billion with a 0.33 per cent negative growth compared with that in the same period last year. The earnings from knitwear grew by 4.91 per cent to $12.50 billion from $11.92 billion in the same period of the FY16. The earnings from RMG fell 6.43 per cent short of its target of $27.38 billion set for the first 11 months of the fiscal year, the EPB data showed. The export earnings growth for 11 months of the current financial year is not satisfactory and it would not be possible to achieve the annual earnings target,’ Mahmud Hasan Khan Babu, vice president of Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association, said. He said that RMG export increased in volume but decreased in value due to devaluation of Dollar, Euro and Pound against Taka. Babu said that the huge cost of remediation was putting pressure on the sector and many factories were shut due to failure in meeting the remediation cost as per the buyers’ requirements. He, however, said that there was possibility to rebound the export growth in knitwear but the earnings growth was being decreased gradually in woven export due to the failure of exporters in maintaining lead time. Babu demanded policy support from the government for the RMG sector to overcome the clumsy situation. According to the EPB data, leather and leather product exports in the first 11 months of FY17 grew by 9.17 per cent to $1.12 billion from $1.02 billion in the same period of FY16, while leather footwear export increased by 12.45 per cent to $477.50 million in the period. Frozen food and fish exports in the July-May period of FY17 fell by 1.89 per cent to $472.85 million from $481.96 million in the same period of last fiscal year. Earnings from jute and jute goods in the first 11 months of FY17 grew by 9.84 per cent to $903.69 million from $822.77 in the same period of FY16. Export earnings from pharmaceuticals in the July-May period of FY17 grew by 11.32 per cent to $82.82 million from $74.40 million in the same period of FY16, the EPB data showed. Agricultural products export in July to May of FY17 fell by 3.91 per cent to $515.73 million from $536.74 million in the same period of FY16. Earnings from home textile export in the period grew by 6.72 per cent to $737.01 million from $690.58 million in FY16. The EPB data showed that the export earnings from engineering products in the first 11 months of FY17 increased by 36.34 per cent to $660.36 million from $484.34 million in the same period of the previous fiscal year.
