Farm exports this FY promise billion-dollar earnings again

Bangladesh's agricultural-product export in the first half of this fiscal rebounded and showed hope of crossing a billion-dollar turnover in the terminal months of the year, insiders said Friday.
After a falling trend over the last couple of years, the shipment of the country's homegrown agricultural produce showed a stunning performance during July-December period of the current FY2025, an FE analysis has found.
During the H1 this fiscal, the export of the agricultural produce like vegetables, fruits, tea, spices and tobacco recorded a 9.31-percent growth over the corresponding period of last FY2024, Export Promotion Bureau (EPB) data showed.
Bangladeshi entrepreneurs had made shipments worth US$595.51 million during H1. In the same period (July-Dec) last FY2024, the shipment volume was worth $544.77 million, the data showed.
Fruits, tea, spices, tobacco, and animal and vegetable fats dominated the earnings from agricultural exports, according to the export analysis.
Farmers, entrepreneurs, exporters, analysts and policymakers find a bright future for the country's agro-products to grab a substantial share in $1.90-trillion global market.
In 2022, the global value of agricultural exports (excluding fish) was $1,903 billion. This was a 2.9-fold increase from 2005, United Nation's FAO report showed.
The United States is the largest exporters of farm and food products to the world, totaled nearly $175 billion, although its growth was down to 11 per cent from the 2022 record, USFDA report says.
After entering into the billion-dollar-export-earners club for the first time in Bangladesh's history during the FY2021 and FY2022, the agricultural produce shipments found a fall in the FY2023 and FY2024.
During FY2021 and FY2022, the export earnings from the agricultural goods and relevant processed foods were $1.028 billion and $1.162 billion respectively, EPB statistics showed.
In the subsequent FY2023 and FY2024, the earnings had fallen below the billion-dollar mark with earnings of $ 834.03 million and $964.34 million respectively, the official statistics showed.
The export earnings in the H1 of this FY2025 showed a bright light again as it had already fetched a $595.51 million worth of income.
Market-insiders say the earnings from Bangladesh's agricultural produce and processed foods, the highest value-added items, are likely to get back in the billion-dollar trajectory again in the current fiscal.
They say the reentry of agricultural produce exports into the billion-dollar-earner club "has lit up a new hope for the country's much-needed export-basket diversification", away from overdependence on readymade garments.
The apparel sector has been single-largest export earner for Bangladesh for more than three decades, contributing around 80 per cent to the aggregate export earnings.
It's good news for the country that its businessmen are trying to diversify their exportable products in overseas markets, cutting dependence on the single-largest export item-RMG-the analysts say.
According to the EPB, although the export of vegetables and some other key items dropped in H1 this fiscal, the ago-produce like dry food ($110.93 million), tobacco ($178.47 million), spices ($29.82 million), animal or vegetable fats and oils ($96.17 million), and beverages, spirits and vinegar ($15.43 million) performed well on the export market last year.
Khurshid Ahmad Farhad, General Manager of Bombay Sweets & Company Ltd, says agro-product exports will be growing in the future days as Bangladesh's many medium to big companies are now trying to expand their market overseas, with agro-processing industries flourishing and holding high prospects.
Mr Farhad has outlined two main reasons for expanding the Bangladesh export market in the global chain-firstly, the big conglomerate has aggressively trying to attract their products in the overseas markets and, secondly, there are increasing numbers of Bangladeshi Diaspora in different countries across the globe.
The big companies are trying to improve the quality of production and grab the overseas markets which helping to expand the merchandise shipment, he added.
"Our company is also expanding its capacity and diversifying the products eying foreign alongside its local markets. We are hopeful of getting a big boost in the export volume within next couple of years," Mr Farhad says.
Bangladesh's Pran-RFL Group, Square Group, Olympic, Bombay Sweets, Acme, and Akij Group are in the race of agricultural-product export.
The largest ago-processing-product exporter --PRAN-RFL Group--has already announced that it would double its export earnings to $1.0 billion within this calendar year 2025.
It also plans to reach $2.0-billion-export-earning benchmark by 2030 - based on its diversified range of products and markets.
The conglomerate's export that started in 1997 by sending pineapples to France stood at $532 million in last FY2021-22, the company claims.
Chairman of RAPID Dr Mohammad Abdur Razzaque says Bangladesh has huge potential in agro-and agro-product export market in the global arena.
"If the manufacturers improve their quality with international certification and target the overseas people globally instead of the Bangladeshi diasporas only, the export will automatically rise," he told the FE.
"Even Bangladeshis entrepreneurs can go for contract farming in foreign countries which would facilitate expanding the agro-base product shipments and earnings," Dr Razzaque said.
Research Director for the Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD) Dr KG Moazzem hails the rebound as good news that Bangladesh has found billion-dollar-export-earning products in its foreign-trade basket.
"We were not getting billion-dollar export products for long years. Now the agro-products had touched the point and it's maintaining a steady growth. It's really stunning news for Bangladesh," the economist says.
Dr Moazzem cites another piece of good news that some Bangladeshi-made products are getting promotion as good brand on the overseas market. "It will facilitate the country to export in the future days, too."
The local companies should now enhance their capacities to expand their export market in the US and EU nations through ensuring their standards and certification, the CPD research director suggests.
Higher volume of the Bangladeshi agro-products goes to the middle-eastern markets alongside some Asian, African and South-Asian countries.

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