Exports earnings have been reported at $4.07 billion in May in the current fiscal 2023-24, down 16.06 per cent from last years $4.84 billion.
On the other hand, export earning of July-May in the current fiscal has increased by two per cent when export earning was $51.54 billion as against $50.52 billion in the same period last year.
Export Promotion Bureau (EPB) released export figures for July-May period of 2023-24 on Wednesday. During the mentioned period, it shows RMG export grew by 2.86 per cent year-over-year to $ 43.85 billion from $ 42.63 billion during the same period of the previous fiscal 2022-23.
Knitwear export earned $ 24.70 billion in the nine month which grew by 6.15 per cent, while export of woven clothes earned $ 19.14 billion, which showed a decline of 1.09 per cent.
The single-month apparel export indicates export earning in May 2024 was $ 3.35 billion showing a decline of 17.19 per cent. Contrary to it, the single month export in May 2022-23 was $ 4.05 billion with a positive growth of 28.33 per cent.
BGMEA director Mohiddin Rubel explaining the export setback said, the worlds two major apparel buyers the USA and EU have scaled down their apparel imports from global market at a time they are facing recession. Export not only suffers setback, per unit price has also declined, he said.
The eroding competitiveness of the industry can also be linked to simultaneous increased cost of manufacturing.
Sources said the countrys economy has been in recession for the past few years due to high inflation, dollar crisis or slow down in remittance flow.
According to EPBs estimate, last month income from exports was $4.07 billion, which is 16 per cent less than the same period last year. In the last 11 months of the current fiscal $5.15 billion came from exports; which is however $4.77 billion less than the target.
As always, ready-made garments top the list of export. Meanwhile, exports of leather and leather products, home textiles, jute and jute products have decreased.
Bangladesh Knitwear Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BKMEA) First Vice president Md Hatem said export orders are low unable to take enough export orders from buyers.
Khandaker Golam Moazzem, research director of the Center for Policy Dialogue (CPD), said given the global market situation no highly expected targets should be set for the next financial year, especially for exports.
He said we have to pay special attention to informal market such the new Middle East market and some Asian markets.
Khandaker Golam Moazzem also said, in case of remittances, effort must be done to combat informal exchange rate. But this cannot be done in one go because of the high demand for dollars globally.
