Exports grow 4.4pc in first half as garments show signs of recovery

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Naim-Ul-Karim
The country's exports posted over 4.42 per cent growth in the first half of the current fiscal year as garments showed further signs of recovery after first quarter's negative growth, commerce ministry officials said Monday.
The country exported manufacturing goods including garments worth US$6.5 billion in July-December of 2007-08 fiscal, nearly $275 million higher than the figure of the same period last fiscal.
The positive growth in exports was due to recovery of garments exports, which recorded negative growth in the first quarter, officials said, requesting anonymity.
Officials did not disclose the amount of garments exported in the first half of the fiscal.
In the first quarter, spanning from July to September, export earnings fell 5.37 per cent than the same time last fiscal, due largely to sharp fall of garments export.
Garments occupied more than 76 per cent of the country's $12.18 billion export trade last fiscal year ending June 2007.
Commerce secretary Feroz Ahmed said he is still not aware of the final export figure, but said there have been some very good signs of export recovery in the recent months.
"It mainly happened due to good performance by the garments sector," Ahmed said.
He said the export of knitwear garments has picked up since October after some 'ordinary performance' in the first quarter.
Exports of woven garments have also recovered in November and December, he added.
The top trade official said the number Generalised System of Preference (GSP) certificates issued in January this year was higher than that issued in December last year, indicating a surge in exports in the third quarter.
"We issued 14,000 GSP certificates in January, against 12,000 in December, 2007," Khalilur Rahman, director general of Export Promotion Bureau (EPB), said, when asked.
The six months export figure was, however, around $760 million less than the government's export target of $7.25 billion for July-December period.
The government set an ambitious export target of $14.50 billion in the current 2007-08 fiscal, which is an increase of 19.07 per cent than the export performance of the previous fiscal.
A leading exporter said the country's garment exports would get further momentum in the coming months, as most of the big manufacturers have received huge orders.
"Our recovery has started to gather pace since October. We also had good performance in November and December, Shahidul Haque Mukul, owner of Adams Apparel said.
"We are optimistic that the apparel sector will show its best performance at end of this fiscal as the manufacturers are getting increasing number of orders," he said.