Bangladesh’s exports earnings in May declined by 61.57% to $1.46 billion compared to the same period last year due to supply chain disruption caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.
However, performance is better in May than the April proceeds of only $520 million this year, against over $3 billion in the same month last year, according to the latest data of the Export Promotion Bureau (EPB).
The Covid-19 pandemic has adversely impacted production of goods as well as sales in export destinations, disrupting supply chains across the globe. As a result, the exports of Bangladesh have seen a sharp decline in the last couple of months, exporters said.
The country has gone through lockdown, which forced factory owners to keep production suspended till April, which was reopened in the last week of the month.
However, export earnings in July-May of the current fiscal year declined by 18% to $30.95 billion, which was $37.75 billion a year ago.
The apparel sector, which accounts for 84.20% of all exports, witnessed a 62% decline to $1.23 billion in May, which was $3.24 billion in the same period last year.
In April it was only $375 million.
“The poor export performance was expected as our business was anyway dipping because of many issues. And now with Covid 19, global sales revenue will dip 27%-30% and it will wipe off $297 billion from global apparel value in 2020,” BGMEA President Rubana Huq told Dhaka Tribune.
As a result, the country’s exports may decline by 30% during June-December 2020, she forecast.
As an alternative, the business leader called for developing a virtual marketplace of its own like Amazon.
“Since export performance depends on demand in global markets, which has gone through closures due to the lockdown,” Centre for Policy Dialogue research director Khondaker Golam Moazzem told Dhaka Tribune,
“It will take time to recover from the down trend. But Bangladesh can take advantage of health related items such as Personal Protective Equipment, face masks, and doctor’s gown," he added.
Leather and leather goods exports saw a 21.66% fall to $739 million in July-May of FY20, which was $944 million a year ago, while home textile exports fell by 16.22% to $671 million this fiscal year ending June 2020.
Amid the drastic fall in business sectors mentioned above, jute and jute goods showed positive growth by 5.74% to $818 million, which was $774 million in the first 11 months of the last fiscal year.
