Merchandise export earnings in August up 4.32%: EPB

Merchandise export earnings in August rose 4.32 percent year on year to $2.96 billion, driven by apparel shipments, according to data from Export Promotion Bureau (EPB).

The August receipt from exports is 11.72 percent below the monthly target of $3.36billion, the data showed.

Overall export earnings in July and August, the first two months of the current fiscal year, also registered positive growth; export earnings grew 2.17 percent year-on-year to $6.87billion.

At the same time, garment shipments decreased by 0.06 percent year on year to $5.71billion.

Of the total amount received from garment shipments, $3.11billion came from knitwear exports and $2.59billion came from woven garment exports in July and August compared to the same period last fiscal year.

Knitwear export increased 6.64 percent year on year while woven exports decreased 7.06 percent, the data said.

The garments industry, which typically contributes more than 84 percent to national exports in a year, began recovering because the international retailers and brands started coming back with work orders and taking back the cancelled work orders.

As a result, garment shipments gradually began rebounding to positive territory.

Merchandise export started rebounding from July mainly because of high shipment of garment items with the reopening of the stores in the European and American markets.

The July receipts grew by 0.59 percent year on year to $3.91billion which is also 13.39 percent higher than the monthly target at $3.44billion.

The earnings in August increased because most of the shipments, which were stuck because of pandemic virus, were shipped in June and July; for which the export increased.

In April, Bangladesh experienced the deepest fall in exports as almost all stores were closed in the European and American markets and factories were shut down in Bangladesh due to the pandemic.

In April, earnings from merchandise export were $0.52billion where apparel's contribution was $0.37billion. In May, the overall export earnings were $1.46billion where garment sector contributed $1.23billion.

In June, merchandise exports earned 2.71billion and the garment sector contributed $2.28billion, EPB data showed.

Export of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), masks and other isolation and hospital related bed sheets and fabric increased manifold from Bangladesh due to high demand of those items.

The government stimulus package worth Tk10,500crore for the export oriented sectors helped to sustain the business.