Bangladesh opened its current fiscal account with a slow export growth as July shipments show a 14.72-percent income rise to US$3.98 billion, for mainly external headwinds.
The Export Promotion Bureau (EPB) Tuesday reported the 14.72 per cent growth in July, year on year, the lowest since September last year.
During the current calendar year 2022, overall export earnings in June grew over 37 per cent to US$4.90 billion, May 23.24 per cent to US$3.83 billion, April 51.18 per cent to US$4.73 billion respectively, according to data.
Since September last, bar May this year, the country's single-month export earnings had surpassed the four-billion mark.
The overall export earnings in the first month of the current fiscal year 2022-23, however, surpassed the set target by 1.65 per cent.
Readymade garments (RMG) including knit and woven items contributed more than 84 per cent to the total $3.98 billion.
And the rest $618 million came from some 31 non-RMG sectors, including home textiles, jute, agro-products, leather and engineering goods.
Of the total $3.98 billion worth of export income during the July'22, the RMG sector fetched $3.36 billion, posting a 16.61-percent growth over that of July'21.
A breakdown of the clothing-sector performance shows that the knitwear subsector of RMG earned $1.85 billion from exports, registering an 11.80-percent growth.
Earnings from woven garment exports amounted to $1.51 billion last month, up by 23.11 per cent.
Home-textile exports also recorded growth by 3.89 per cent to $95.95 million in the first month of this fiscal.
When asked about the external trade situation, Mohammad Hatem, executive president of Bangladesh Knitwear Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BKMEA), termed the July apparel-export performance 'good' despite eight to ten days' Eid holiday.
"July shipments were the outcome of orders mostly placed in March and April," he says.
He, however, said the export growth slowed compared to last few months. They are now receiving less work orders from global apparel buyers due to the rise in inflation in major economies followed by the war between Russia and Ukraine.
Citing data, he said since September last year till June this year, RMG exports had grown over 41 per cent except in November and February last when growth recorded 32 to 33 per cent and May around 24 per cent.
Mentioning utilization-declaration data of the apparel trade bodies, Fazlee Shamim Ehsan, vice president of BKMEA, said work orders declined around 20 per cent in June for lower demand.
"Buyers are now making lesser queries and placing fresh orders as they are now observing the situation," he said, attributing the slowdown to high inflation in major markets, including the European Union and the USA, because of the Russia-Ukraine war.
The decline in work orders might be reflected in data of September or onwards, both the leaders noted.
Meanwhile, jute sector, which demonstrated a negative growth in the last fiscal, recorded a 5.17-percent growth in July of FY 22 with $63.91 million in earnings.
Earnings from agricultural items, including vegetables, fruits and dry foods, witnessed a 34.89-percent fall. The sector's aggregate earnings stood at $63.91 million during the period, which was $98.15 million.
Leather and leather products recorded over 9.82-percent growth to $99.41 million last month against $90.52 million earnings in July'21.
The country earned $43.56 million from engineering products exports in July'22, which was $33.03 million in the previous July.
Earnings from pharmaceutical exports stood at $13.17 million, marking a 28.23-percent negative growth.
Export earnings from frozen and live fishes decreased 2.12 per cent to $36.03 million during the same period.
According to the EPB, export of plastic products witnessed over 44- percent growth to $14.62 million.
The government has set a target of $58.0 billion earnings from goods export in the current year 2022-23.
Munni_fe@yahoo.com