Exports bounce back in Aug
Exports rebounded in August after a dip in July on the back to higher shipments of apparel items.
Last month, exports fetched $3.33 billion, up 19.76 percent year-on-year, Commerce Minister Tofail Ahmed told reporters after a meeting with rawhide merchants and leather and leather goods exporters at the secretariat office in Dhaka.
Shipments were slow in the month of July, but grew significantly in August, he said. However, the minister did not disclose the full export data of August as the Export Promotion Bureau is supposed to release the data this week.
Overseas shipments raked in $2.53 billion in July, down 3.8 percent year-on-year. July's receipts also missed the monthly target by 25.18 percent.
Garment shipments brought home $2.11 billion in July, down 4.41 percent year-on-year.
Apart from garment items, jute and jute goods, leather and leather goods and pharmaceuticals have been performing well overseas, Ahmed said.
As a result, the government has decided to bump up the cash incentive for jute and jute goods to 15 percent so that its shipments grow faster.
The minister also said the government will give 5 percent cash incentive to the crust leather exporters that have already shifted to Savar Leather Estate from Hazaribagh.
Ahmed said the earnings from leather and leather good exports will cross the $2 billion-mark soon as the sector has been earning more than $1 billion in the past several years.
The prospects of leather and leather goods export are very high as Bangladesh has strong demand from Germany, Japan, Italy and the US, according to Ahmed.
During the latest visit of US Secretary of State John Kerry, Bangladesh again demanded duty-free access for its garment exports to the American markets.
Encouraged by the record earnings last fiscal year, the government set the export target for fiscal 2016-17 at $37 billion, up 8 percent from last year's receipts.
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