EPB asked to revise its export target upward

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FE Report
The commerce ministry has asked the Export Promotion Bureau (EPB) to revise its proposed export target upward for the current fiscal considering the performances of some major items over the past five years.
The instruction came at a meeting on fixation of the country's export target for the fiscal 2007-08, held at the Ministry of Commerce Monday with Commerce Secretary Feroz Ahmed in the chair.
The EPB earlier submitted a proposal to the commerce ministry fixing the country's export target for the current fiscal at $13.50 billion showing a 10 per cent growth over that of the previous fiscal.
"We have asked the authority concerned to review the proposed export target in line with the past five years export performances," a senior official of the commerce ministry told the FE Monday.
Sources, however, said the proposed target for the current fiscal is likely to increase after reviewing the product-wise export performances.
The ministry will also fix specific export targets for the Bangladeshi missions abroad in line with their previous performance, the sources added.
"We are hopeful about finalising the export target by the end of this month," the ministry official said, adding that the export target should be 'pragmatic' and 'achievable'.
The proposed export target has been estimated on the basis of the last fiscal's performance. In fiscal 2006-07, the country's export earnings stood at $12.18 billion, which was 2.6 per cent lower than the target of $12.50 billion set for the year.
The authorities concerned, while revising the country's export target, will also consider the prevailing market situation, particularly that of apparel sector in the regional countries, including Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia and India.
The volume of exports although increased by 16.36 per cent, the overall prices fell by 0.67 per cent in the last fiscal, according to the EPB's statistics.
Earnings from the woven garment segment grew by 14.05 per cent to $4.657 billion crossing the target of $4.650 billion for the fiscal, which is a rise by 0.16 per cent.
However, the knitwear exports surged by 19.30 per cent to $4.55 billion, but the same missed the export target set for the fiscal by nearly 6.03 per cent.
Earnings from frozen foods, the second largest export earner, grew by about 12.24 per cent to $515.32 million, the data showed.