Export earning in July marks sharp decline

FE Team | Published: October 19, 2007 00:00:00 | Updated: February 01, 2018 00:00:00

FE Report
The country's export earning in July, the first month of fiscal 2007-08, marked a sharp decline of 21.08 per cent to $ 902.33 million over that of the same period of the previous year.
According to a report prepared by the Export Promotion Bureau (EPB), the earning also fell short by 32 per cent of the strategic target at $ 1341.25 million.
Business leaders said the decline in the export of woven garments, frozen foods, knitwear and leather has affected the growth in overall export earning.
For the current fiscal, the export target has been set at $14.5 billion, a rise of 19 per cent over that of the previous fiscal country fetched 12.8 billion against the export target of $ 12.5 billion.
Months'-long political turmoil and congestion of containers at the Chittagong port are among the key reasons for such a fall in export earning, said a senior EPB official.
He said there was a setback in export earning because of poor orders received from the overseas buyers for woven garments and knitwear.
"We received poor bulk orders during October to December period last year, which basically caused fall of export in the first quarter of the current fiscal," president of Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) Anwar Ul Alam Chowdhury Parvez told the FE.
He, however, expected that the readymade garment export would pick up from next month.
Commenting on the export performance, Shahab Ullah, vice-chairman of Export Promotion Bureau (EPB), told the FE Thursday: "It's a general trend. Export sector normally performs poorly at the beginning of a fiscal year."
He, however, expressed the hope that in the second quarter of the fiscal, the export would grow faster.
However, earnings from woven garment export declined by 23.61 per cent to $345.20 million in July over that of the same period of the previous fiscal.
The strategic export target for the period was $499.50 million.
Earnings from knitwear also fell by 23.45 per cent to $346.74 million over the same period of the previous fiscal. Its export target was $505.51 million.
Export of the frozen food items also marked a decline of 11.55 per cent to $45.93 million missing the target of $55.50 million, set for the period.
Apart from this, jute goods, leather, handicrafts, home textile and tobacco export marked a declining trend in the first month of the current fiscal.
Only the export of processed food items, vegetables, raw jute and pharmaceuticals recorded a rise compared to their strategic targets set for the fiscal.