Roundup: Bangladesh export limping back to normalcy amid COVID-19 pandemic
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E-mail Xinhua, August 5, 2020
by Naim-Ul-Karim
DHAKA, Aug. 5 (Xinhua) -- Bangladesh's exports in the first month of the current 2020-21 fiscal year (July 2020-June 2021) reached about 4 billion U.S. dollars, registering a meager 0.59-percent growth, the Export Promotion Bureau (EPB) data posted on its website showed Wednesday.
The EPB data showed export performance for July this year was 3,910.92 million U.S. dollars.
July export income was over 44 percent higher than that in June, meaning the country's export sector is limping back to normalcy after suffering serious blows owing to COVID-19 impacts.
Of the total earnings, the EPB data showed the country's income from ready-made garment items, including knitwear and woven, stood at 3.24 billion U.S. dollars.
Knitwear garment export grew 4.30 percent to 1.75 billion U.S. dollars in July but woven garments decreased 8.43 percent to 1.49 billion U.S. dollars, comparing with the same period of last fiscal year.
Bangladesh last month set its export target in 2020-21 fiscal year at 41 billion U.S. dollars, including 33.79 billion U.S. dollars from ready-made garment products.
Due to the economic impacts of COVID-19 in Bangladesh and elsewhere in the world, Bangladesh export earnings in the past financial year 2019-20 sank about 17 percent to 33.67 billion U.S. dollars, the lowest since the 2014-15 fiscal year.
The EPB data showed export performance for June, the final month of the last fiscal, was 2.71 billion U.S. dollars, 2.5 percent lower than the same month of the previous financial year.
An EPB official said export income plunged as earnings from garment mainly experienced severe slowdown after buyers from the United States and the European Union which are by far the largest destinations for Bangladesh's garment exports, have cancelled their orders in the wake of COVID-19.
The EPB official who declined to be named said Bangladesh businesses are now keenly interested in bolstering market in China for garment products following Beijing's recent decision to provide tariff exemption for 97 percent of exports from Bangladesh.
The garment sector accounts for around 80 percent of Bangladesh's annual exports and generates employment for some 4 million workers, while women make up around 80 percent of the garment workforce. Enditem
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