Published in New Age on Monday, 17 August 2015.
Export earnings from all major destinations plunge in July
Moinul Haque
Export earnings from all major destinations declined in July, the first month of this financial year 2015-16, due to a negative growth in export of readymade garments, the major export items of the country.
The export earnings from the United States dropped by 2.8 per cent to $486.97 million in July of the FY16 from $501.04 million in the same month of the FY15 while the earnings from Germany fell by 23.57 per cent to $400.64 million from $524.25 million, according to the Export Promotion Bureau data released on Sunday.
Centre for Policy Dialogue executive director Mustafizur Rahman told New Age that the negative growth in all major destinations would not continue and the earnings might rebound in August-September.
The trend might be temporary as the production and shipment remained closed in the RMG sector for more than a week in July due to Eid-ul-Fitr holidays, he said.
Exporters, however, said that export earnings witnessed negative growth in all major markets as Bangladesh lost its competitiveness and the euro was devalued by more than 20 per cent against the dollar.
Export earnings in July of the FY16 slumped by 11.96 per cent to $2.62 billion against $2.98 billion in the same month of the previous fiscal year, showed the EPB data.
The US was the highest export destination for Bangladesh while Germany was the second highest destination and the export earnings from the two countries in the FY 2014-15 were $5.78 billion and $4.70 billion respectively, the EPB data showed.
Not only from the US and Germany, the export earnings from the countries those were the top 10 export destinations for Bangladesh in the financial year 2014-15 witnessed a negative growth in the first month of the FY16.
Though the overall exports to the US decreased by 2.8 per cent in July of the FY16, the earnings from readymade garments exports to the market dropped by 3.59 per cent to $451.38 million from $468.19 million in the same period of FY15.
The RMG export to Germany fell by 22.25 per cent to $376.02 million from $483.66 million in the same period of the FY15.
Export earnings from UK, the third highest export destination for Bangladesh, decreased by 2.44 per cent to $267.49 million from $274.18 million.
Exports to Spain fell by 7.21 per cent to $164.09 million in July this year from $176.84 million in the same month of last year, the EPB data showed.
Export earnings from France in the first month of the FY16 decreased by 9.96 per cent to $134.28 million from $149.14 million in the same month of the FY15 while the earnings from Italy fell by 18.17 per cent to $123.96 million in the period.
Export to Canada fell by 9.14 per cent to $100.16 million while export to Belgium decreased by 27.59 per cent to $82.68 million in July of the current financial year.
Export earnings from Japan decreased by 7.52 per cent to $78.21 million and the earnings from Netherlands fell by 18.39 per cent to $74.04 million.
Export to China, the 11th highest export destination for Bangladesh, fell by 33.75 per cent to 52.64 million in the first month of the FY16 from $79.49 million in the same month of the FY15.
Abdus Salam Murshedy, president of the Exporters Association of Bangladesh, said the reasons for the negative growth were devaluation of the euro and losing of competitiveness by Bangladesh due to rising cost for doing business.
Salam, also a former president of Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association, demanded special incentive for the exporters who export to the EU as the euro was devalued by more than 20 per cent.