Bangladesh’s exports in July 2022 grew by 14.72 percent to $3.98 billion year-on-year from $3.47 billion in the same month of 2021 due to an extraordinary performance of the readymade garment sector.
Exporters termed the export growth in July, the first month of the current financial year 2022-23, excellent, saying that the export earnings showed the resilience of the RMG sector amid rising inflation in the western countries.
They also feared that the rising trend of exports might end soon as inflationary pressure caused by the Russia-Ukraine war decreased the demand for apparel products in European countries and the United States.
The export earnings in July 2022 surpassed the government-set target by 1.65 percent, according to the Export Promotion Bureau data released on Tuesday.
Export earnings from the RMG sector in July 2022 grew by 16.61 percent to $3.36 billion from $2.88 billion in the same month of 2021.
The data showed that export earnings from knitwear increased by 11.80 percent to $1.85 billion from $1.65 billion.
Export earnings from woven garments in the first month of FY23 grew by 23.11 percent to $1.51 billion from $1.23 billion in the same month of FY22.
Fazlul Haque, a former president of the Bangladesh Knitwear Manufacturers and Exporters Association, termed the export performance of the RMG sector in July 2022 excellent.
‘No doubt, the export earnings achieved an encouraging growth in July as the production remained suspended for 8-10 days in the month due to Eid-ul-Azha holidays,’ he said.
‘Export performance in July is undoubtedly good but we are in fear whether the positive trend may end soon as work orders have decreased since May due to the inflationary pressure in European countries,’ Fazlul said.
He also said that most probably the effect of declining orders was not reflected in the July data.
Earnings from the home textile export in July 2022 increased by 3.89 percent to $95.95 million from $92.36 million in the same month of 2021.
Jute and jute goods exports in the first month of FY23 grew by 5.17 percent to $63.91 million from $60.77 million in the same month of FY22.
Export earnings from agriculture products in July 2022 fell by 34.89 percent to $63.91 million from $98.15 million in 2021.
Export earnings from leather and leather goods increased by 9.82 percent to $99.41 million in July 2022 from $90.52 million in the same month of 2021.
Export earnings from leather footwear also increased by 13.11 percent to $61.34 million while earnings from other leather products fell by 0.44 percent to $25.10 million in the first month of FY23.
Export earnings from frozen and live fish decreased by 2.12 percent to $36.03 million while the shrimp export increased by 2.73 percent to $30.85 million in July 2022.
Earnings from engineering products in July 2022 increased to $43.56 million from $33.03 million in the same month of previous year.
Earnings from pharmaceutical exports fell by 28.23 percent to $13.17 million while plastic product exports increased by 44.32 percent to $14.62 million in July 2022.
‘RMG export grew by 16.61 percent in July and reached $3.37 billion. In this difficult time of global economy where our economy is confronted with imported inflation, the euro is falling against the dollar and the cost of inputs is on the rise, this growth is showing the resilience of our industry,’ said Mohiuddin Rubel, a director of the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association.
Yet the outlook remains uncertain amid the economic slowdown in advanced economies, he said.
