The country’s export earnings maintained a moderate growth in the first five months of the current fiscal year. Earnings from merchandise shipment grew by 6.86 per cent to $14.56 billion during the July-November period of 2017-18, compared to the corresponding period of last fiscal, according to Export Promotion Bureau (EPB) data released on Thursday. The country had fetched $13.62 billion in the July-November period of 2016-17. In November, the export earnings grew by 6.22 per cent to $3.05 billion from $2.87 billion in the same month of 2016, the data showed. The single-month earnings, however, surpassed the target by 6.63 per cent set for the period. Earnings from the readymade garment (RMG) export during the period stood at $11.96 billion, marking a 7.46 per cent growth over the corresponding period of FY17. Export earnings from the woven increased by 3.99 per cent to $5.71 billion from $5.49 billion in the same period of the last fiscal. The knitwear export stood at $6.24 billion during the period, marking a rise of 10.86 per cent over the earnings of $5.63 billion in the same period of FY17. Though export earnings from woven items fell short of target by 1.53 per cent, knit items surpassed the target by 7.25 per cent. Export earnings from jute and jute goods in the first five months of the current fiscal increased by 16.51 per cent to $451.16 million from $387.23 million in the same period of FY17. Agricultural products registered a 17.77 per cent growth with earnings of $259.65 million in the same period of FY 2017-18. Export earnings from home textiles during the period surged by 19.18 per cent to $331.04 million. Exports of leather and leather products witnessed a negative growth of 2.95 per cent to $518.15 million, compared to $533.91 million in the same period of FY17. Leather footwear exports, however, jumped by 8.55 per cent to $252.81 million during the period. Exports of frozen foods and live fish stood at $272.40 million, marking a 10.78 per cent growth, during the July-November period of the current fiscal year.
