Exports fetched $3.68 billion in January, up 7.92 percent year-on-year, on the back of robust growth of garment shipments. With January proceeds, export earnings in the first seven months of the fiscal year come to $24.18 billion, up 13.41 percent from a year earlier and comfortably past the periodic target of $22.41 billion. The jump in receipts come despite four major export earning sectors — leather and leather products, jute and jute goods, home textiles and shrimps — logging in lower shipments, according to data from the Export Promotion Bureau. Earnings from leather and leather products, the second biggest export earner after the garment, dropped 11.71 percent year-on-year to $626 million between the months of July last year and January this year. Export of jute and jute goods, which account for part of the livelihood of tens of thousands of growers, tumbled 24.66 percent to $498 million during the period. The sector hit a rough patch earlier this fiscal year in the face of waning demand for economic slowdown in Turkey, one of its biggest market, and anti-dumping duty slapped by India. Export of shrimp, which is grown in the southwest and southeast costal region by more than 8 lakh farmers, also continued to suffer for ample production of vannamei shrimp in other countries, particularly in India. Processors bagged $257 million in the July-January period, which is 12.37 percent lower than a year earlier. Home textiles exports declined 0.79 percent to $494.09 million. And yet, a 14.51 percent spike in shipment of garment products helped the overall earning scenario to remain positive. The apparel sector, which typically accounts for more than 80 percent of total export earnings, logged in $20.21 billion in export receipts in the first seven months of the year. Agricultural products extended additional support to the growth in export earnings. Export of agricultural products such as dry food, vegetables and spices rose 61 percent to $579 million in the seven months to January. In addition, export earnings from petroleum bi-products, pharmaceuticals, plastic products, paper and paper products, cotton and cotton product, specialised textiles, footwear other than leather and engineering products increased in the first seven months of fiscal 2018-19.
