The country's single-month merchandise export earnings in August 2022 grew over 36 per cent, after a slow growth in July, to US$ 4.60 billion year-on-year.
Bangladesh fetched $3.38 billion in August 2021, according to provisional data of the Export Promotion Bureau (EPB), released on Sunday.
The August 2022 earnings also surpassed the set target by 7.14 per cent.
In July 2022, exports witnessed 14.72 per cent growth, the slowest since September last year, to earn $3.98 billion.
Since last September, excepting May and July this year, the country's single-month export earnings surpassed the four-billion-dollar mark.
The overall export earnings during July-August period of the current fiscal year (FY), 2022-23, recorded a 25.31 per cent growth to $8.59 billion over that of $6.85 billion during the corresponding period of last fiscal.
Of the total $8.59 billion export income during this July-August period, the RMG sector fetched $7.11 billion, posting a 26 per cent growth over that of last fiscal.
A breakdown of the clothing sector performance shows that the knitwear subsector of RMG earned $3.91 billion from exports, registering a 20.15 per cent growth.
Earnings from woven garments export amounted to $3.19 billion in the past two months, up by 34.23 per cent.
Home-textile exports also recorded over 53.39 per cent growth to $268.52 million in the first two months of this fiscal.
When asked, Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) President Faruque Hassan said the export growth was the outcome of orders that they received for previous months and shipments for the upcoming Christmas.
Besides, winter season shipments of sweater, jacket and similar products also contributed to the growth.
He also noted high prices of raw materials and other enhanced logistic costs.
The BGMEA president, however, said there might be no growth or it might enter into negative territory because of slow work orders.
A good number of buyers have hold placing orders or production, while many have asked for deferred shipments, saying there warehouses have no space or they already have stocks, he explained.
Also the present energy situation has a negative impact, as those who have work orders cannot produce items due to gas and electricity supply shortage that has reduced working hours and resulted low productivity.
Meanwhile, jute sector, which demonstrated a negative growth in last fiscal, recorded a 22.67 per cent growth in the July-August of FY 23 with $156.61 million in earnings.
Earnings from agricultural items, including vegetables, fruits and dry foods, witnessed a 14 per cent fall. The sector's aggregate earning stood at $178.22 million during the period, which was $207.23 million.
Leather and leather products recorded over 27.77 per cent growth to earn $223.23 million during this July-August period against $174.71 million in the corresponding period.
The country earned $136.68 million from export of engineering products in last two months, which was $99.89 million in the corresponding months of last fiscal.
Earnings from pharmaceutical exports stood at $27.59 million, marking a 25 per cent negative growth.
Export earnings from frozen and live fishes decreased 7.21 per cent to $81.63 million during the same period.
According to the EPB, export of plastic products witnessed over 60.9 per cent growth to $33.37 million.
The government has set a target of earning $58.0 billion from export of goods in the current FY, whereas the country fetched $52.08 billion in last fiscal.
munni_fe@yahoo.com
