Country’s export earnings from Germany crossed $5 billion in the just concluded financial year 2016-17 while exports to the United States and the United Kingdom, the major markets for Bangladesh, slumped by more than 6 per cent in the year. Experts and exporters said that the export earnings slumped in the major markets due to global fall in apparel demand and appreciation of local currency (Taka) against Dollar as well as fall in price of Euro and Pound. Export earnings from Germany, the second highest destination of RMG product from Bangladesh, in the FY 17 grew by 9.78 per cent to $ 5.47 billion from $4.98 billion in the same period of the FY 16, according to the Export Promotion Bureau data released on Monday.Readymade garment export to Germany in the FY 17 grew by 10.35 per cent to $5.13 billion from $4.65 billion in the FY 16. Data showed that, export earnings from the US, the single largest export destination for Bangladesh, in the FY17 fell by 6.01 per cent to $5.84 billion from $6.22 billion in FY16.Export earnings from the UK, the country’s third largest export destination, fell by 6.31 per cent to $3.56 billion from $3.80 billion in the FY16.‘We are trying to find out the reasons behind the negative export growth in the major destinations and the government would take necessary initiatives to boost the export earnings growth,’ the EPB vice-chairman Bijoy Bhattacharjee said while publishing the export data for the FY 17 at a press briefing at the EPB in the city.He said that they would investigate whether the unit prices of products declined or the exchange rate affected the export earnings. Bangladesh got the Netherlands as a new billion-dollar export market in the just concluded financial year 2016-17 while the name of Belgium dropped from the list of billion-dollar market as the RMG export to that country declined. Japan and Belgium were included in the list of billion-dollar export markets for Bangladesh in the FY 16.Export earnings from the Netherlands in the FY 17 grew by 23.62 per cent to $1.04 billion from $ 895.92 million in the FY 16.Readymade garment export to US in the FY 17 fell by 7.48 per cent to $ 5.20 billion from $5.62 billion in the FY 16 while the export to UK declined by 6.16 per cent to $3.30 billion from $3.52 billion.‘There are some internal and external factors for negative export growth in the major markets. Global slowdown in demand, Brexit, exchange rate and closure and relocation of factories due to remediation are the key reasons for the sluggish export growth,’ Mahmud Hasan Khan Babu, vice president of Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association, told New Age.He said that the demand of apparel products declined by 5 per cent in the global market and at the same time fall in prices of Euro and Pound affected export earnings.Shortage of gas and electricity and lack of proper infrastructure also disrupted the export earnings growth, Babu said. RMG export to Netherlands in the FY 17 grew by 23.47 per cent to $814.34 million from $ 659.55 million in the FY 16.Export earnings from China increased by 17.48 per cent to $949.41 million in the FY 17 from $808.14 million in the FY 16.Exports to India declined by 2.50 per cent to $672.40 million from $689.62 million, data showed.
