Export earnings down 4.79 pc to $26.2 billion in 8 months

Bangladesh again saw the decline in export earnings in the second month of the second half of the fiscal year 2019-20.

Overall exports in the July-February period of this fiscal year have experienced a fall again in line with the country's export earnings in the very first month.

Export performance for July-February 2018-19 was $27.56 billion in total, according to the data of the Export Promotion Bureau (EPB).

EPB data show that Bangladesh shipped products worth $26.24 billion, around 4.79 percent short of the amount fetched in last eight months of this fiscal year 2019-20.

This performance also falls nearly 13 percent short of the $30 billion strategic export target for the first eight months same year.

According to the EPB statistics, all the major export items including knitwear, woven garments, home textile, leather & leather products, ceramics products, and wood & wood products witnessed sharp to moderate fall during July-February.

Exports of ceramics products fall significantly by 59 percent to $23 million, while the performance of this item was $56.5 million in the same period previous fiscal year.

Knitwear, the mainstay of export earnings saw 5.17 percent decline earning $10.8 billion, while woven garments earned $10.9 billion, with a 5.89 percent fall.

Exports of jute and jute goods, carpets have noticeable growth and also crossed the target for the period.