Bangladesh’s export earnings from the United States in the first month (July) of the current financial year 2018-19 rebounded overcoming the sluggish growth in last few months as the export orders for readymade garment products from the US started increasing.Export to India in July of FY19 achieved more than 165 per cent growth due to excellent performance of RMG products as the Indian and global brands set up a good number of retail shops in the neighbouring country and increased their procurement from Bangladesh.According to the Export promotion Bureau data, export to the US in July of FY19 grew by 20.93 per cent to $601.48 million from $497.35 million in the same month of FY18.RMG export to the US increased by 20.33 per cent to $538.46 million from $447.47 million.Experts and exporters said that export orders from the US and India increased in recent times but it would not be wise to assume the overall growth trend based on one month’s data.‘The US economy is running strong and export orders from the market increased a little bit but the earnings witnessed a 20.93-per cent growth in the month of July as a good number of consignments of the month of June were shipped in July due to the Eid-ul-Fitr holidays in June,’ Ahsan H Mansur, executive director of Policy Research Institute of Bangladesh, told New Age on Saturday.He said that nothing would be well-disposed for Bangladesh with the growth of the first month of the current fiscal year as the competing countries were also doing well in the US market.Echoing Mansur, Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association vice-president Mahmud Hasan Khan Babu said that the June-August period was the pick season for receiving orders from the US and it was true that orders increased in recent times but the growth in orders was not 20 per cent.‘I think many June consignments were shipped in July due to the Eid holidays and the consignments rose export growth figure in the month of July,’ he said.Babu also said that export earnings from India witnessed a notable growth in last few months as Western and Indian clothing brands set up a significant number of stores in India and raised procurement from Bangladesh.EPB data showed export earnings from India in July of FY19 increased by 165.85 per cent to $121.76 million from $45.80 million in the same period of FY18.RMG export to India increased by 156.67 per cent to $44.87 million from $17.48 million.Export earnings from the United Kingdom in July of the current fiscal year, however, witnessed a minimal growth of 2.26 per cent to stand at $354.50 million, up from $346.64 million in the same month of FY18.RMG export to the UK in the month grew by 0.60 per cent to $324.33 million.In most of the other EU countries, Bangladesh’s exports in the month of July of FY19 witnessed more than 20 per cent growth, the EPB data showed.Export earnings from Germany in the first month of FY19 grew by 25.44 per cent to $576.95 million from $459.93 million in the same period of FY18.Export of RMG products to Germany increased by 29.49 per cent to $548.62 million from $423.66 million.Export earnings from Spain in July of FY19 grew by 24.61 per cent to $252.70 million from $202.78 million in the same period of FY18.Export to France in July this year increased by 13.45 per cent to $172.74 million from $152.25 million in the same month of last year.Export earnings from Japan in July of FY19 grew by 34.15 per cent to $102.48 million from $76.39 million in the same period of FY18.RMG exports to Japan in the month increased by 60.32 per cent to $809.15million, the data showed.Export earnings from China in the first month of FY19 grew by 3.01 per cent to $65.47million from $63.55 million in the same period of FY18.Export of RMG products to China rose by 18.11 per cent to $42.64 million in July this year.
