Export earnings rise by 5.89pc in Jan
03 February 2023
Staff Reporter :
The country's export earnings rose 5.89 per cent year-on-year to $5.13 billion in January this year from a year ago amid a constant onslaught of economic challenges.
The exporters got $4.85 billion in the first month of 2023, showed data released by Export Promotion Bureau (EPB) on Thursday.
With January data, the overall growth of export receipts slowed to 9.81 per cent year on year in seven months (July-January) of the current fiscal year (2022-23) thanks to higher shipment of ready-made garments.
Bangladesh earned $32.44 billion in the mentioned period from $29.54 billion in the same period a year ago, according to EPB data.
The data showed that the apparel export increased by 14.31 per cent to $27.41 billion from $23.98 billion during the time.
The knitwear items export reached $14.96 billion, while woven items become $12.45 billion registering 12.70 per cent and 16.30 per cent growth respectively. The growth in woven sector was comparatively higher than the knitwear during the time.
In a single month in January, the export earnings from apparel shipment were $4.42 billion with 8.24 per cent growth compared to the same month of the last year.
Faruque Hassan, President of the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA), said, "The global apparel demand is plummeting but we are hopeful about increasing our market share."
He said the Bangladesh RMG industry is expected to grab 12 per cent of the global market by 2023.
This isn't the first time Bangladesh's economy has shown signs of turning around from economic hits.
Despite all the lockdowns, travel restrictions, and pandemic-induced economic downturn, Bangladesh recorded its highest ever single- month export earnings amounting to $4.72 billion in December 2021.
Mohiuddin Rubel, Director of the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association BGMEA), said, "Though we are maintaining over $4 billion export earnings for the last few months, there are so many challenges behind this strong performance."
"The global economic outlook indicates slowdown in 2023 and globally the inflation hits the record. New orders also have fallen in most of our factories. So we need to prepare ourselves to face any kind of unprecedented situations in future," he added.
Meanwhile, the export earnings increased by 7.37 per cent from leather and leather goods, leather-footwear by 4.12 per cent and other leather products by 22.23 per cent during the seven month period.
But, the earnings from home textile export fell by 16.65 per cent to $692.86 million compared to the $831.31 million in the same period of FY22.
Agriculture products also found fewer buyers as export earnings dipped by 25.86 per cent to $555.27 million from $748.99 million in the same period of FY22.
Exports of jute and jute goods fell by 21.22 per cent to $548.10 million compared with that of $995.73 million, the EPB data showed.
Frozen and live fish exports dipped by 22.83 per cent in the first seven months of FY23.
