Dhaka, Bangladesh (BBN)- Bangladesh’s overall export earnings registered a negative growth of 4.17 per cent or about $ 100 million in May compared to the corresponding month of the previous year, officials said.
The drop in export earnings has been due mainly to the global economic meltdown, particularly the economic downswing in euro zone, exporters said.
  
Export earning in May this year was $ 2.20 billion, which was $ 2.26 billion in May 2011, according to the Export Promotion Bureau (EPB) statistics, released on Sunday.
However, single month earnings started witnessing a negative growth from March 2012 with the earning in that month registering the negative growth of 7.23 per cent and that in April of 7.13 per cent compared to those of a year ago.
The country’s export receipts during the July-May period of the current fiscal stood at $ 21.98 billion, reflecting a 7.0 percent growth over the same period of the last fiscal, the EPD data showed.
Apparel manufacturers said besides the economic meltdown of the world, gas and electricity crises have contributed to the slow growth as they failed to use full production capacity resulting in delay or cancellation of shipments. 
Earnings from knitwear products in July-May of FY 2011-12 stood at $ 8.57 billion, marking a growth of only 1.50 percent, which was around 47 percent during the corresponding period of the previous fiscal.
Shipment of woven garments stood at $ 8.70 billion or had a 15.73 percent growth during the period while the growth was about 40.52 per cent in July-May of the last fiscal.
Exporters said the recent economic recession in the European Union (EU) and US has been the main reason for the sluggish export growth, as most of the shipments were meant for these markets.
Earning from the frozen food sector during the first eleven months of the present fiscal stood at $ 553.37 million, marking a negative growth of 2.08 per cent. The earning also fell short of target by 15.05 per cent. 
“Prices of local products fell in recent times because of the declining demand of the luxury products due to economic meltdown in Euro zone and the USA,” an exporter said.
Exports of other major products, especially jute and jute-made goods, rubber and specialized textiles fell short of their respective targets of this fiscal.
 
BBN/SSR/AD-10June12-9:25 pm (BST)