Readymade garment exports from Bangladesh in the July-March period of the current fiscal year, rose by 3.18 per cent to US$ 18.62 billion against the last year export value of $18.05 billion, according to data from the Export Promotion Bureau. This figure is 4.72 per cent less than that of the target of $19.55 billion set for the first nine months of the current fiscal year.
During the July-March period, knitwear export earnings stood at $9.07 billion with a rise of 2.7 per cent over the previous year’s earning of $8.83 billion. Woven products earned $9.56 billion, up 3.64 per cent over last year’s figure of $9.22 billion.
For the fiscal year 2014-15 the government has set an export target of $26.9 billion from the readymade garments sector, of which $13.215 billion is for knitwear and $13.681 billion for woven garments.
The EPB data showed that Bangladesh earned over $22.9 billion in overall exports, posting a 2.98 per cent growth in first nine months of the current fiscal year over the same period earning of $22.24 billion last year. But the earning fell short by 5 per cent to reach the target of $24.12 billion set for the period.
In March, Bangladesh earned $2.59 billion, which was 7.43 per cent higher compared to the same period last year. But the figure is 8.97 per cent less than the target of $2.84 billion.
In fiscal year 2013-14, Bangladesh’s clothing exports surged by 13.83 per cent to $24.491 billion, compared to exports of $21.515 billion in 2012-13.