March exports hit record $4.76b

Total earnings from shipping goods abroad rose 33.4 per cent year-on-year to $38.6 billion in July-March period of fiscal 2021-22

Export receipts hit $4.76 billion in March, the highest ever on record in a single month, posting 55 per cent growth year-on-year as buoyancy remained in shipments of major manufactured goods such as garments, home textiles and leather footwear despite the Russia-Ukraine war's effect on global trade.

The previous record was of October 2021 when it reached $4.73 billion.

With March, the total earnings from shipping goods abroad rose 33.4 per cent year-on-year to $38.6 billion in nine months since July of fiscal year 2021-22, providing much-needed support to the country's foreign exchange reserves, which is under pressure amid ballooning imports.

The export figures were compiled a day after Bangladesh Bank said migrant workers sent a higher amount of remittance in March than in February, which would also help offset the reduction in foreign exchange reserves at the end of the month.

The foreign exchange reserve, which stood at $46 billion on December 29, 2021, stood at $44.25 billion on March 30, according to Bangladesh Bank.

The Export Promotion Bureau (EPB) data showed that garment exports fetched $31.42 billion in the nine months to the end of March of fiscal year 2021-22, up 33 per cent from that a year ago.

"Buyers are shifting orders from various countries. Prices of yarn and raw material costs also increased," said MA Jabbar, managing director of DBL Group, one of the leading garment exporters.

He said the products shipped in March were booked earlier.

"Booking is good while our capacity utilisation has increased. We have also not seen cancellation of any order," he said responding to question on the Russia-Ukraine war.

"The markets from where we got bookings were not affected for the war," he said.

"We are concerned but we expect the export growth momentum to continue this year," said Jabbar.

Garments, comprising woven and knitwear, made up 81 per cent of the overall export receipt of $31.4 billion in the July-March period of the current fiscal year.

Home textiles, leather and leather goods and footwear as well as engineering products brought gains for the exports.

Home textiles makers posted a growth of nearly 37 per cent in export receipts year-on-year to $1.15 billion in the nine months to the end March.

Home textile became the second biggest earner after garment, putting leather and leather products, including footwear, in third position.

Leather and leather product exports jumped 31 per cent year-on-year to $896 million in the July-March period of fiscal year 2021-22 from that a year ago.

However, exporters of jute goods registered a decline in earnings as demand for jute yarn from the main importer, Turkey, remained low. Raw jute shippers recorded growth in the July-March period of the current fiscal year, according to the EPB.

Shrimp exports, the main export earning sector among frozen and live fish category, continued to maintain a positive trend after a downturn in fiscal year 2020-21.

"Robust export growth is a good sign as it would help increase our capacity to pay import bills. At the same time, it is good for the ready-made garment industry and jobs in the sector," said Mustafizur Rahman, a distinguished fellow of the Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD).

The export growth provides hope too. Bangladesh's relatively low trade dependence on Russia helped maintain the export momentum which was not the case for Sri Lanka that suffered a slump in tea exports to Russia and fall in tourists from there, he said.

However, he said, prices of cotton soared 51 per cent year-on-year in February this year. Prices of yarn and fabrics also rose.

"So net export has not increased to that extent. A large part of the export growth is volume driven as many buyers have passed on increased cost on exporters. So, exporters could not increase profit per unit of garments," he said.

"We need to strengthen backward and forward linkage so that we can retain higher value by contacting buyers directly," he said.