The country’s export earnings from India in the July-April of the current financial year 2017-18 surged by 20.73 per riding on a 115.18-per cent growth in readymade garment exports.Export earnings from China, the largest trading partner of Bangladesh, however, plunged by 30.59 per cent in July-April due to the poor performance of leather and leather goods sector, according to Export Promotion Bureau data released on Thursday. Exporters said that although RMG exports to India witnessed a sharp rise in terms of percentage, the amount is still well below the potential.According to the Export Promotion Bureau data, overall export earnings from India in the first 10 months of the FY 18 increased to $701.55 million from $581.10 million in the same period of FY 17.Readymade garment export to India in the July-April period of FY grew to $225.57 million from $104.83 million in the last fiscal. ‘RMG export growth to India is higher in percentage but the amount still negligible considering more than $5 billion RMG export to USA. Most probably the companies owned by Indian nationals in Bangladesh increased their export to the country in recent time,’ Mohammed Hatem, vice president of Exporters Association of Bangladesh, told New Age on Saturday. Experts said that the leather and leather products export to China decreased as the country was relocating its labour intensive production to other countries and importing from there due to increase of production cost in China. Export earnings from China in the first 10 months of FY 18 decreased to $562.10 million from $809.82 million in the same period of FY 17.Leather and leather goods export to China decreased by 69.71 per cent to $67.17 million from $221.77million in the same period of FY 17, data showed.Leather Goods and Footwear Manufacturers and Exporters Association of Bangladesh vice president Mohammed Nazmul Hassan said that China had started to shift its labour intensive industry to other countries like Vietnam to avoid higher production cost.Nazmul, also the owner of Leatherex Footwear Industries Ltd, said that Bangladesh has been failed to take the advantage of the relocation of China due to poor infrastructure, inefficient port management and shortage of gas and electricity.United States regained largest export market for Bangladesh overtaking Germany in the July-April period of the FY 18. Export earnings from the United States grew by 2.58 per cent to $4.92 billion in the 10 months of FY18 from $4.79 billion in the same period of FY17.Export earnings from the Germany, the second largest export destination for Bangladesh, grew by 6.06 per cent to $4.91billion in the July-Aril period of the FY 18 from $4.63 billion in the same period of FY17.Export earnings from the UK, the third largest export destination for Bangladesh in the EU, grew by 14.92 per cent to $3.37 billion from $2.94 billion in the same period of FY17.Export earnings from the Netherlands rose by 22.46 per cent to $1 billion in the 10 months of FY18 from $820.93 million in the same period of FY 17, the EPB data showed.
