Industrial production has slowed in the country, despite bumper imports over the last few months.
The general index of manufacturing stood at 489.73 in April, down 6% from 520.90 in March, according to the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS).
The manufacturing production grew 4% year-on-year in April.
April was the third month in a row that registered slower industrial production after the score hit 566.19 in January, the highest in three years.
The downward trend came at a time when imports skyrocketed to feed the economy rebounding from the Covid-19 pandemic slowdown.
Prices of goods and commodities had surged owing to the ballooning demand as global economies make a turnaround amid the Russian-Ukraine conflict.
Bangladesh's imports grew 41% in the July-April period of the last fiscal year.
It moderated to 36% at the end of the fiscal year as importers brought in $82.49 billion worth of goods, data from the Bangladesh Bank showed.
Industry accounted for 37% of Bangladesh's gross domestic product in FY22, according to the provisional estimates by the BBS.
The national statistical agency collects industrial production data from 965 industries, both public and private, in 22 sectors on a monthly basis to assess the movement of industrial production.
The sectors include food processing, beverages, textile and garments, jute, leather, paper and printing, petroleum, chemical and chemical products, pharmaceuticals, plastic, steel, cement, edible oil and soap and detergent.
Among the sector, the industrial production for 14 sectors declined while it grew for eight sectors.
The production of jute and cotton textiles, pharmaceuticals, tea and fruit processing and preservation increased in April from the previous month.
On the other hand, the manufacturing of apparels, petroleum products, fertilizer, tiles, cement, paper and paper products, and salt fell.
Importers bought a 58.2% year-on-year higher readymade garment related goods in FY22, data from the central bank showed.
Import of raw cotton was up 39.3%, yarn 115.3%, textiles and allied articles 51.6%, staple fibre 50.9%, and dyeing and tanning materials 24.9%.
The import of intermediate goods, which included clinker for the cement industry, oil seeds, chemicals and pharmaceuticals products rose 63.6% in the last fiscal year.
Capital goods imports, including those for capital machinery, rose 26.35% in FY22.