Exports rise 28pc in July

Exports increased by 28.70 percent in the first month of the current fiscal year compared with the same month last year, according to Export Promotion Bureau (EPB) data released yesterday.
However, exports faced a decline in the month of July compared with the previous month, when earnings rose by 40 percent.
In July, Bangladesh earned $2.34 billion from its overseas trade, while the amount was $1.81 billion in the same month last year, the EPB said.
The annual export target for the current fiscal year has been fixed at $26.50 billion, while the target for the month of July was $2.18 billion.
Exports of some major products such as knitwear, woven garments, jute and jute goods, home textile, footwear and frozen foods marked a rise in July.
In July, Bangladesh exported knitwear worth $1 billion and woven worth $888 million, registering a 26.20 percent and 32.28 percent rise respectively compared with the same month a year earlier.
However, exports of cement, specialised textile fabrics, ceramic products, glass and glassware, bicycle, ships, boats and floating structures have gone down.
Jalal Ahmed, vice-chairman of EPB, said exports declined in July compared with the same month last year mainly due to a bad economic outlook in the western world.
Exports of jute and jute goods went down because of political unrest in the Middle East countries.
The political crisis in Libya also pushed down Bangladesh's exports of jute and jute goods.
“We are worried about US debt crisis. Investment in the US will decline, trimming down people's purchasing power there,” Ahmed of the EPB said.
The EU also faces the same bad economic situation, he added.
“We are happy after all, but with caution,” Ahmed said.
Nasir Uddin Chowdhury, vice-president of Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association, said the number of orders is declining from the US buyers due to low sales of garment items there.
“A lot of old stocks are yet to be sold in the US. As a result, new orders are not so high,” he said.
Orders from international buyers will pick up from October onwards as the months of July, August and September are considered as lean season in garment business worldwide, he added.
Garment exports will decline further next month as the western buyers are now following a go slow policy for higher yarn price, said Salim Osman, president of Bangladesh Knitwear Manufacturers and Exporters Association.
He said garment makers now demand higher prices as they made the items from costly yarn. But the prices of cotton and yarn are now going down on the global market, he said.

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