Bangladesh bagged $22.93 billion from its overseas trade with 41.47 percent growth in the just concluded fiscal year, according to the latest Export Promotion Bureau data released yesterday.
The export earnings surpassed the yearly target of $18.5 billion, buoyed by shipments of readymade garments and jute and jute goods.
In June alone, the country earned $2.38 billion, registering 40.25 percent growth, compared with the same period a year earlier.
Readymade garments including knitwear, woven and home textile fetched $18.71 billion of the total $22.93 billion earnings in the immediate past fiscal year.
Of the major export items, knitwear products were worth $9.49 billion and woven garments worth $8.43 billion, registering 46.25 percent and 40.23 percent growth respectively.
The country earned $1.11 billion from exports of jute and jute goods last year, registering 41.49 percent growth, compared with the previous year, the data shows.
The oceangoing vessels fetched $40.44 million last year with 332.98 percent growth.
Jalal Ahmed, vice-chairman of the EPB, said the trend shows that growth will continue.
“The signs are good. Exports won’t decline in future,” he said.
He said the rise in exports was also backed by duty-waiver facility to the EU from January 1, and relaxation of Rules of Origin (EU) under the Generalised System of Preferences (GSP) by Eurozone for the least developed countries.
Bangladesh is performing well also in new markets such as Japan, South Africa, Australia, Canada, New Zealand and some Latin American countries, Ahmed said. As a result, the exports from Bangladesh are on the rise, he added.
Zaid Bakht, research director of Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies, said exports grew due to a rise in both value and volume of garment items, although products were not diversified.
Bangladesh mainly exports basic garments, in which China, the largest apparel supplier worldwide, is not a competitor now.
“Demand for garment items is recovering from the global recession,” Bakht said.
But the government should ensure adequate supply of gas and power and keep stable the political environment to push up the export growth, he added.
Faruque Hassan, vice-president of Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association, said the exports of garment items increased due to price adjustment of apparel items by the international buyers.
The buyers paid more for the garment products as the prices of imported raw materials such as cotton, yarn and accessories marked a rise on the international market, he said.
Hassan said the months of July, August and September will be sluggish for the garment sector as it is the lean period for manufacturing, but the orders will go up from early October.
“We performed well in the new destinations last year,” he said.
However, Fazlul Hoque, former president of Bangladesh Knitwear Manufacturers and Exporters Association, said the total export value went up due to the price adjustment of the garment items.
Excluding the added value that came because of a hike in prices of imported raw materials, the real export growth would be around 15 percent, Hoque said.
He also said a lot of orders shifted from China to Bangladesh last year due to higher cost of production there.
Moreover, the troubled political situation in Pakistan also helped Bangladesh bring in orders from the country, he said.
Bangladesh could have exported more had there been an adequate supply of gas and power in the industrial units.
The commerce ministry will announce today the export target for the current fiscal year.
-With The Daily Star input
