Earnings from the country’s merchandise exports in the first eight months of the current fiscal year (FY) maintained a moderate growth of about 13 per cent to US$ 27.56 billion, thanks to ‘good’ performance by readymade garment (RMG. The country fetched $ 24.39 billion during the July-February period of last FY (2017-18). The export performance was 7.81 per cent higher than the target set for the eight-month period of this FY (2018-19), according to official data. The single month earnings in February last grew by 10.12 per cent to $ 3.38 billion from $ 3.07 billion in the same month last year, according to the Export Promotion Bureau (EPB) data released on Thursday. The February performance also surpassed the target set for the month by 7.13 per cent. The earnings from export of readymade garments (RMG) during the July-February period of the current FY grew by 14.17 per cent to $ 23.12 billion from $ 20.25 billion in the corresponding period of last fiscal. The earnings also surpassed the target by 7.93 per cent. The country earned $ 11.49 billion from knitwear exports during the period under review. It marked a growth of 13.50 per cent compared to $ 10.12 billion in the corresponding period of the last FY. Export of woven garments in the first eight months of FY’19 grew by 14.84 per cent to $ 11.63 billion, from $10.13 billion in the same period of the last FY. The earnings from home textile exports witnessed a fall by 2.51 per cent to $ 568.55 million during the period. Earnings from home textile, also, fell short of the target by 7.73 per cent during the period. When asked, Exporters Association of Bangladesh (EAB) Vice President Mohammad Hatem termed the RMG export growth ‘good’ and attributed it to the safety measures taken by the industry, the trade war between China and the USA and the good performance in the non-traditional markets. The entrepreneurs have invested huge amount of money in workplace safety remediation and setting up environment-friendly factories which helped regaining the buyers’ confidence, he said. Exports in the USA also increasing as a result of USA and China trade war, he noted. He, however, said the growth is volume-based not the value as the buyers are reducing prices of apparel items in almost all seasons, he said, adding a industry can’t sustain for a long time if such situation persists for a longer term. He called for transparency and ethical buying practice of buyers to ensure fair price. The earnings from jute and jute goods in July-February period of the current FY continued to decline as it fell by 24.36 per cent to $ 560.56 million from $ 741.12 million in the same period of the last fiscal year. The country earned $ 694.72 million from exports of leather and leather products in the first eight months of FY ’19, marking an 11.50 per cent decline during the period. Earnings from leather footwear grew 7.62 per cent to $ 423.96 million in the July-February period. Frozen and live fish exports in the July-February period of the current FY witnessed 2.87 per cent growth to $ 394.03 million during the same period of the current fiscal year, according to data.
