Staff Reporter :
Merchandise exports touched a record $52.08 billion in just-concluded fiscal year (2021-22) riding on apparel shipments and gave a breathing space to the country amid ongoing volatility in the foreign exchange regime.
The receipts were 34.38 per cent compared with the previous fiscal year (2020-21), when exporters brought home $38.76 billion, according to a data of the Export Promotion Bureau (EPB) revealed on Sunday.
The overall export earnings also surpassed by 19.73 per cent the target that was set at $43.5 billion for the outgoing fiscal year.
Besides, the single-month export earnings growth in June increased by 37.29 per cent and earned $4.90 billion. Since September last, with an exception of May this year, the country’s single-month export earnings had surpassed the four-billion mark.
Of the total $52.08 billion export income during the July-June period, the RMG sector fetched $42.62 billion, posting a 35.47 per cent growth over previous fiscal year.
A breakdown of the clothing-sector performance shows that the knitwear subsector of RMG earned $23.21 billion from exports, registering 36.88 per cent growth.
Earnings from woven garments export have amounted to $19.39 billion during the aforesaid time, up by 33.83 per cent.
Home-textile exports also recorded over 43 per cent growth to $1.62 billion during the mentioned period.
Mohammad Hatem, Executive President of Bangladesh Knitwear Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BKMEA), told The New Nation, “We feel proud of being a part of major portion of export earning sector.”
“The ongoing robust growth of RMG exports will continue in upcoming months too, although the risk of global recession is increasing due to the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine,” he said
“The growth is mainly for two reasons-increases in price of raw materials and demand for basic items-in the post-Covid-19 period. The demand for lower-end apparel, major export goods, will not be reduced in day to come,” he said.
He further said RMG exports have potential to grow at a higher rate if customs-related complications are eased and business costs are reduced.
Among other notable sectors, agricultural products registered a growth of 13.04 per cent to $1.16 billion, from $1.02 billion.
Leather and leather goods registered a growth of 32.23 per cent to $1.24 billion, which was $941.67 million in the same period of last fiscal year.
Engineering products, another promising export sector of the country, marked a growth of 50.4 per cent to $795.63 million from $529 million last year.
However, jute and jute products registered a fall of 2.91 per cent to $1.12 billion, which was $1.16 billion in the same period of last fiscal year.
Apart from the country’s jute sector, all major sectors performed satisfactory during the July-June period of FY22, exceeding their strategic export target for the fiscal. AHM Ahsan, Vice-Chairman of the EPB, said, “The robust growth in export earnings is a good sign for the country. However, it would cross $58 billion this year breaking all the previous records, if service exports were added.”
Despite global inflation and Russia-Ukraine war this trend of robust exports may continue, he hopped.
