According to an Export Promotion Bureau (EPB) handout issued yesterday, the export earnings from July 2006 to April 2007 was 18.50 percent higher than that of the corresponding period of the previous fiscal.

This was disclosed at a meeting of the Board of Management of the EPB yesterday. Finance and Planning Adviser Mirza Azizul Islam chaired the meeting.

During the period, earnings from exports of garments, knitwear, frozen foods, engineering products, ceramic products, handicrafts, textile fabrics, home textile, petroleum by-products and other industrial products increased considerably.

However, the earnings decreased in the fields of chemicals, tea, jute products, raw jute, agri-products, bicycle and electronic products, the handout said.

Commerce Secretary Firoz Ahmed, EPB Vice Chairman Mohammad Shab Ullah, President of the Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industries (FBCCI) Mir Nasir Hossain and President of Bangladesh Knitwear Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BKMEA) Fazlul Haque were present among others.