The government is going to set the export target at $44.40 billion from exports of goods for FY20, with a 6.76% growth target in export earnings.For the outgoing fiscal year, the government had set export target at $39 billion, where the growth target was 6.36%. Against the target, in the first 11 month of current fiscal year, Bangladesh earned $37.75 billion, which was $33.72 billion in the same period last year.Export Promotion Bureau (EPB) on Monday discussed the proposed export target with major export stakeholders in apparel, leather and plastic sectors.The proposed target will be placed to the commerce ministry by next week and the minister will finally announce the export target for the next fiscal year.The target has been proposed considering the world economic outlook, policy changes at important export destinations, stakeholder feedback, supply chain capacity, changes in exchange rates, and global business trends.Of the proposed target, $37.42 billion will come from the country’s apparel sector, which is over 84% of total target. For the RMG sector, the growth target is 7.03%. Of the total, $18.47 billion is expected from knitwear and $18.94 billion from woven products and the expected growth rate is 9.92% and 7.15% respectively. During July-May of the current fiscal year, export earnings from the apparel sector stood at $31.73 billion, which is 12.82% higher compared to $28.12 billion in the same period a year ago.“The government will set target and the manufacturers will try to achieve it. A $37.42 billion export target for the next fiscal is achievable,” BGMEA President Rubana Huq told Dhaka Tribune. “But I look at it in a different way. If we take order at $2 freight on board (FOB), Bangladesh can earn $100 billion by the next two years. Should I call it export growth?” Rubana asked. “Does this growth increase prices of goods or is there any value addition? We want quality growth, not the numeric growth,” she added. Already Bangladesh exports to the US market increased and if the US-China trade war helped further, the export target would go up, said the BGMEA president. In capitalizing the opportunity, the government must come up with policy support and importance should be given to value addition, she suggested. Meanwhile, the government is going to set the export target at $1.06 billion for leather and leather goods, $1.02 billion for agricultural products, $910 million for home textiles, $855 million for jute and jute goods, and $504 million for frozen and live fish, $150 million for pharmaceuticals, $138 million for plastic goods and $88 million for ceramics. “Achievement of the export target will depend on the global economic situation, demands of good and taking advantage of US-China trade war,” Policy Research Institute Executive Director Ahsan H Mansur told Dhaka Tribune.”Since the export earnings is highly dependent on the apparel sector, the target should be achieved by the RMG sector. In doing so, Bangladesh has to attract work orders from China,” said Ahsan.
