The country’s export earnings in July–May of the last fiscal year amounted to $10.96 billion, showing a decelerated growth rate of 16.4 %. The average prices of primary products increased by less then 4 % and manufactured products declined by more than 1 %, meaning that real earnings from exports were on the decline as manufactured products contribute nearly 80 % to exports.

The export earning growth was 18.5%, 20.21% and 21.13% in July–April, July–March, and July–February respectively of FY2006-07.

The main reason for this declining growth rate is the depressive growths in exports of knitwear, finished leather, and jute goods.

Exporters fetched $10.5 billion in FY06, posting a 22 % growth from FY05. The export earning target for the current fiscal year has been set at $12.5 billion, projecting a 19% growth.

Bangladeshi traders exported goods worth about $10.959 billion in July-May of FY07 up from $9.411 billion exported in the same period of FY06 shows the recent monthly report of Export Promotion Bureau (EPB).

According to the report, although export earnings from knitwear continued to rise, the growth rate was less than that in the previous fiscal year and fell significantly short of its target for the period.

Export earnings from knitwear in July–May grew by less then 20 % to $4.067 billion. The growth rate was 22 %, 24%, and 26% in July–April, July–March, and July–Feb of FY07. But it was 35 % in FY06.

A number of other items also posted less-than-expected growth rates in the period. Of them, export earnings from finished leather rose by only 4 % to $245 million and petroleum by-products by 9 % to $81 million.

Raw jute, jute goods, bicycles and vegetables earned $137 million, $298 million, $49 million, and $32 million respectively in the period, marking negative growth rates compared to that in the corresponding period of FY06.
According to the EPB release, woven garment exports grew by nearly 15 % to $4,183 million in the period. In the last fiscal year, export earnings from woven garments suffered a negative growth of more than 6 %.

In July–May, export earnings from frozen foods grew by nearly 13 % to $443 million, home textile shot up by 64 % to $234 million, and footwear by 40 % to $123 million.

Exports of ceramic products, in terms of value, grew by 12 % to $28 million, foliages by 62 % to $31 million, agro-processed foods by 14 % to $20 million, and handicrafts by 48 % to about $7 million. All these products surpassed their export targets for the period.

The EPB report also shows that the overall export in May 2007 grew by 0.10 % to $1.044 billion from that in April 2006. But, the amount fell 13 % short of the export earning target for the month. In July-May, the average export volume of primary products increased by 4 % and manufactured goods by 18 % from that in the same period of the previous fiscal year.