Country’s export earnings from two promising markets –Japan and China– dropped in the first quarter of the current financial year 2017-18 compared with the same period of the last fiscal year.Exports earnings from the major markets including United States and Germany posted minimal growth during the Q1.Experts and exporters said that both Japan and China are the potential market for Bangladesh’s apparel sector and focused attention from the exporters are needed to the markets.They said that export earnings from Japan declined due to appreciation of yen against dollar while global brand decreased their imports from Bangladesh for the chain stores in China.According to the Export Promotion Bureau, country’s export earnings from Japan in the July-September period of FY18 fell by 8.76 per cent to $245.27 million from $268.57 million in the same period of FY17.Readymade garment exports to Japan in the period declined by 9.81 per cent to $170.83 million from $189.41 million in the same period of last year. Export earnings from China in the first quarter of the FY18 decreased by 16.95 per cent to $162.72 million from $195.93 million of corresponding period of last fiscal.RMG exports to China declined by 10.16 per cent to $74.30 million from $82.70 million in the same period of last fiscal.‘Apparel exporters would have to take the initiative to establish direct communication with the Chinese importers to increase the export to the market,’ Policy Research Institute executive director Ahsan H Mansur told New Age on Tuesday. He said that exporters as well as Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association should go for focused attention in the China market.Mansur said that the appreciation of yen against dollar might cause negative export growth in Japan market.Md Fazlul Haqe, former president of Bangladesh Knitwear Manufacturers and Exporters Association said that country’s exporters do not export apparel directly to the Chinese company.Export growth in China market depends on global brand like H&M and Walmart who procure products from Bangladesh for their Chinese retail shops, he said.China promising market for Bangladesh and exporters should increase direct export to Chinese companies.Export earnings from US, the largest export destination for Bangladesh, in the first quarter of the FY18 grew by 3.88 per cent to $1.45 billion from $1.40 billion of corresponding period of last fiscal.Apparel export to the market grew by 3.41 per cent to $1.30 billion from $1.26 billion in the same period of last year. Exports to Germany, the second largest export destination for Bangladesh, in the July-September period of FY18, however, registered a minimal 0.83 per cent growth to $1.38 billion from $1.37 billion in the same period of FY17.Export earnings from RMG stood 1.29 billion in the market with 0.85 per cent growth over that of the corresponding period of FY17. Export earnings from UK in the first quarter of FY18 grew by 22.28 to $1.03 billion from $843.78 million in the same period of FY17.Earnings from apparel products fetched $962.27 million with 23.28 per cent growth. Bangladesh earned $611.03 million from export to Spain with 24.24 per cent growth, $408.13 million from France with 6.19 per cent growth, 344.59 per cent from Italy with 12.24 per cent growth and 283.33 million from Canada with 13.33 per cent growth.
