Bangladesh’s export earnings in the first quarter (July-September) of FY24 has increased by 9.51% to $13.68 billion, compared to $12.49 billion in the same period of FY23, thanks to increased exports of readymade garment (RMG).
The earnings in the first quarter of FY24, however, fell short by 2.16% of the government set target of $13.99 billion, according to Export promotion Bureau data released late Sunday.
The country’s export earnings in September 2023 grew by 10.37% to $4.31 billion year-on-year from $3.90 billion in the same month of 2022.
Export earnings from readymade garments in the July-September period of FY24 increased by 13.07% to $11.61 billion from $10.27 billion in the same period of FY23.
Earnings from Knitwear export increased by 19.70% to $6.76 billion, compared to $5.65 billion in the same period of the past financial year.
Earnings from woven garments grew by 4.97% to $4.85 billion from $4.62 billion in the same period of FY23.
Export earnings from leather and leather goods in July-September of FY24 decreased by 18.44% to $267.49 million from $327.97 million in the same period of the past financial year.
Earnings from home textile export fell by 46.39% to $189.5 million from $353.48 million in the same period of FY23.
Export earnings from agriculture products fell by 5.2% to $257.49 million from $271.62 million in the same period of FY23.
Export of jute and jute goods decreased by 9.67% to $221.89 million from $245.65 million in the same period of the past fiscal year, the data showed.
Export earnings from frozen and live fish decreased by 25.05% to $99.54 million from $132.8 million while shrimp export fell by 32.30% to $67.77 million.
Export earnings from engineering products in July-September of FY24 fell by 16.13% to $121.1 million from $144.39 million in the same period of the past financial year, the EPB data showed.
Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) president Faruque Hassan termed the growth as positive amid the current global situation.
He also said that the RMG of the country was still in a sustained position despite fall in demands at global destinations.
“We posted earnings growth because we ventured into high-value clothes manufacturing and buyers increased unit price for those goods, though export volume has now decreased,” he also said.
Moreover, Bangladesh is doing better compared to other competitors because of different initiatives like aggressive branding, better image through apparel diplomacy and manufacturers-brands meetings.
Moreover, earnings from non-traditional and new markets like Australia, Japan and Korea are also increasing, he added.
However, Fazlee Shamim Ehsan, vice-president of the Bangladesh Knitwear Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BKMEA), stated that the reality is that they have been dealing with an order difficulty since the middle of last year.
Even then, the majority of factories, including his own, were operating at less than full capacity.
“I'm not sure how this industry experienced the incredible export growth,” he added.
Saddam Hossain also contributed to this report