Export earnings fall 18.29pc in March

NEWS DESK 

The country’s single month merchandise shipments in March’20 witnessed 18.29 percent negative growth to $2.73 billion US dollar, the lowest during the current fiscal year, according to data.

Export earnings were $3.34 billion in March last year.

The monthly export earnings during the period under review also showed a downtrend, except in the months of July and December.

The overall export fell by 6.24 percent to $28.97 billion in the first nine months of the current fiscal year (FY), 2019-20, against $30.90 billion in the corresponding period of last FY.

The earnings also fell short of the target set for the period by 14.52 percent, according to the provisional data of the state-run Export Promotion Bureau (EPB).

The RMG (readymade garment) sector fetched nearly $24.10 billion during July-March period of FY 20 against $25.95 billion during the same period a year earlier, registering a 7.12 percent negative growth.

The earnings also fell short of target set for the period by 15.29 percent.

Earnings from woven garments fell by 7.61 percent to $12.14 billion during the period. Proceeds from knitwear exports fell by 6.61 per cent to nearly $11.95 billion, the EPB data show.

The woven and knitwear exports fetched $13.15 billion and $12.80 billion respectively in July-March period of last fiscal.

Earnings from other key sectors also fell during the first nine months of the current FY, compared with the same period a year earlier.

The EPB provisional data showed that earnings from home textile stood at $598.19 million, down by 7.59 percent from $647.34 million. It fell short of the target by 9.87 per cent.

According to the EPB data, export earnings from leather and leather goods fell by 10.78 percent to $688.51 million during the period under review from $771.69 million of the corresponding period of last FY.

Jute and jute goods exports, however, increased by 23.49 percent to $775.63 million from $628.08 million.

Pharmaceuticals exports also grew by 6.50 percent to $106.22 million.

Agro-products, like - vegetables, fruits and spices, fetched $721.98 million, slightly down from $722.73 million.

Frozen and live fish exports fetched $402.6 million in the first eight months of this fiscal, registering a negative growth of 3.91 percent.

Exports from plastic also witnessed a negative growth of 4.57 percent to $83.11 million during July-March period of FY 2019-20.

Ceramic products exports during the period decreased by 58.56 percent to $24.92 million from $60.13 million.

The country brought in $40.53 billion by exporting goods during last fiscal, of which about $34.13 billion came from textiles and clothing alone, the data show.