Bangladesh Apparel Exports Up 2.21% In May

Apparel, Footwear, Fashion

Bangladesh Apparel Exports Up 2.21% In May

Bangladesh's exports rose a marginal 1.39% year-on-year to US$ 3.07 billion in May. The garment sector that accounts for 80% of shipments contributed most to the export growth as usual, but failed to push much high. May's exports missed the target by 8.52%. Sluggish growth raised concerns over the prospects of Bangladesh keeping up 10% annual growth.

Exports in the July-May period accelerated 3.67% to around US$ 31.8 billion, according to data released by the Export Promotion Bureau. But it missed the target by 4.68%, with only one month of the outgoing fiscal year in hand. The export target for this fiscal year was set at US$ 37 billion, which means the country will have to post around US$ 5.2 billion exports in June alone to meet the target.

Bangladesh exported US$ 34.25 billion of goods in fiscal 2015-16, registering 9.72% growth. The garment sector earned US$ 27.38 billion in July-May with 2.21% growth, the data shows.

The target, however, was missed by around 6.5%, with the knitwear sector posting a 2.16% rise while earnings from woven garment exports dropped 0.33%. Leather exports dropped by 10.31% but leather goods exports were 19% higher. In his speech for the proposed budget for fiscal 2017-18, Finance Minister AMA Muhith mentioned that the US$ 29 billion exports in the July-April period are around 78% of the annual target. "Multifarious adverse conditions in international market have created slight pressure on RMG exports," he cited as the reason for faltering export growth. Muhith said exports to the European Union improved significantly. "I believe exports to the US market will also increase considerably with accelerated economic recovery in the US."