Bangladesh’s merchandise export earnings in the just concluded financial year 2022-23 stood at $55.55 billion, which fell short by 4.21 per cent from its target of $58 billion set by the government for the financial year, according to the Export Promotion Bureau data released on Monday.
However, the country’s export earnings in FY23 grew by 6.67 per cent or $3.47 billion compared with those of $52.08 billion in FY22, the data showed. Exporters and experts said that although the country’s export earnings remained in a positive territory in FY23, the earnings missed its target mainly due to a global economic slowdown caused by the Russia-Ukraine war.
Amid the global economic turmoil, Bangladesh’s readymade garment sector still remains competitive while the performance of non-RMG sector has been poor for long, they said.
Export earnings in June 2023 grew by 2.51 per cent to $5.03 billion year-on-year compared with those of $4.90 billion in the same month of 2022. The earnings in June 2023 also fell 9.61 per cent short of the government-set target of $5.56 billion for the month. Export earnings from readymade garment in FY23 grew by 10.27 per cent to $46.99 per cent compared with $42.61 billion in FY22.
‘It is encouraging that the performance of Bangladesh RMG sector is better on the global market than its competitor countries,’ Policy Research Institute executive director Ahsan H Mansur told New Age on Monday.
He said that the performance of other export sectors had remained poor for long and the government would have to device policy to increase exports from non-RMG sectors. ‘We are missing the potential of leather and food processing industries due to our own reasons and the government would have to address the problems in the sectors,’ Mansur said. He said that attracting foreign direct investment was crucial to increasing non-RMG exports.
Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association president Faruque Hassan said that the RMG exports achieved its target in FY23 thanks to the performance of new markets and increased shipment of high value-added products.
He also said that the encouraging export growth in the first half of FY23 helped the sector achieve its target but the exports in the coming months might not sustain the positive growth as many factories were running below their production capacity. Earnings from woven garments export in the just concluded financial year 2022-23 increased by 9.65 per cent to $21.25 billion compared with those of $19.39 billion in FY22.
Earnings from knitwear export in FY23 grew by 10.87 per cent to $25.73 billion compared with those of $23.21 billion in FY21, the EPB data showed. Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association vice-president Md Shahidullah Azim said that Bangladesh’s RMG exports could have grown more on the global market if the Russia-Ukraine war was not occurred.
He said that RMG exports remained in a positive territory in FY23 thanks to the performance of non-traditional markets as the demand for apparel products decreased in the United States and the European Union countries due to high inflation caused by the Russia Ukraine war. Export earnings from non-RMG sectors except plastic goods witnessed a big drop in the financial year 2022-23. Export earnings from home textiles in FY23 fell by 32.47 per cent to $1.09 billion compared with those of $1.62 billion in FY22. Earnings from leather and leather goods export in FY23 declined by 1.74 per cent to $1.22 billion compared with those of $1.24 billion in FY22.
Export earnings from leather footwear in the just concluded financial year decreased by 6.93 per cent to $703.81 million compared with those of $756.18 million in FY22.
Earnings from jute and jute goods export in FY23 decreased by 19.1 per cent to $912.25 million compared with those of $1.12 billion in FY22. Export earnings from agricultural products, including vegetables, fruits and spices, fetched $843.03 million in FY23, which was 27.47 per cent lower than the earnings of $1.16 billion in FY22.
Bangladesh Fruits, Vegetables and Allied Products Exporter’s Association president SM Jahangir Hossain said that vegetable exports dropped heavily due to lack of required facility, including less cargo space and problems in airport scanners.
He said that India grabbed a large portion of Bangladesh’s vegetable market share in the Middle East market due to lower transport costs.
Jahangir said that Bangladesh’s vegetable exports decreased to the EU due to problems in airport scanners, less cargo space for the perishable goods and lack of facilities in the central packaging house in Dhaka.
Export earnings from frozen and live fish in FY23 declined by 20.76 per cent to $422.28 million compared with that of $532.94 million in the previous financial year.
Export earnings from shrimps in FY23 fell by 26.27 per cent to $300.26 million compared with those of $407.25 million in FY22.
Export earnings from plastic products in the just concluded financial year increased by 26.23 per cent to $209.86 million compared with those of $166.25 million in FY22, the data showed.
