Bangladesh’s earnings from merchandise exports fell 4.99 per cent year-on-year to US $ 3.43 billion in January even as January’s receipts were 9.58 per cent lower than the monthly target of US $ 3.80 billion.
This is as per the Export Promotion Bureau (EPB) data.
Reports underlined that this (January) is the second consecutive month of export contraction even as woven segment was yet to make a recovery, in terms of exports, they maintained.
According to reports, from that of US $ 9.44 billion in the same period of the previous fiscal year, export earnings of woven garments fell by 10.85 per cent to US $ 8.41 billion in July-January of FY21 even as earnings from knitwear exports in the first seven months of FY21 increased by 3.84 per cent to US $ 9.98 billion from what was US $ 9.62 billion in the same period of FY20.
According to media reports, which cited the President of the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA), Dr. Rubana Huq, knitwear exports managed to achieve growth due to continued need for clothing for home use, who further went on to add that things may remain challenging for the apparel industry at least till the third quarter of this calendar year 2021 and that it was difficult to forecast the future of export on the backdrop of current volatile situation.
Meanwhile, earnings from home textiles, reportedly, increased by 44.34 per cent to US $ 638.96 million in the seven months of FY21 from what was US $ 442.67 million in the same period of FY20 even as earnings from leather and leather goods in July-January of FY21 fell by 5.78 per cent to US $ 526.58 million from that of US $ 558.9 million in the same period of the previous fiscal year while earnings from leather-footwear exports in the seven months of FY21 fell by 1.08 per cent to US $ 329.53 million from US $ 333.14 million whilst other leather products fetched US $ 133.49 million from that of US $ 148.05 million with a 9.83 per cent negative growth in the period.
