Dhaka, Bangladesh (BBN) – The country’s overall export grew by 13.03 per cent to $ 15.90 billion in the first eight months of the current fiscal year (FY) 2011-2012 over that of the corresponding period of the previous fiscal year.
Slow growth rate in the country’s merchandise exports continued during the July-February period of the FY’12 compared with that of the same period of FY’11 due mainly to the Eurozone crisis.
“Export growth slowed down, mainly because of the recession in the European Union (EU) countries,” a leading exporter said while explaining the latest overall situation.
“To tackle the setback following the EU recession, we need to reduce the cost of production. But our cost of production is increasing due to power crisis and high bank interest rate,” he noted.
Bangladesh’s export earnings during the first eight months of FY’11 recorded a 40.28 per cent growth over that of the previous fiscal year, the state-run Export Promotion Bureau (EPB) data showed.
Earnings from knitwear products in the period under review stood at $ 6.29 billion, marking a growth of 8.73 percent, which was 43.93 per cent during the corresponding period of the previous fiscal.
Shipment from woven garments stood at $ 6.26 billion during the same period of the current fiscal, marking a growth of 22.20 percent, while the growth was about 37.95 per cent in July-February of FY’11.
Earning from frozen fish sector during the period stood at $ 444.95 million, marking a growth of 3.17 percent but fell short of target by 2.90 per cent.
Other major foreign currency earning products, especially jute and jute-made products, rubber and specialized textiles fell short of their respective targets of this fiscal and growth rates of the previous fiscal.
Leather and leather products export grew by 17.27 percent and 36.57 percent and earnings stood at $ 206.94 million and $ 49.71million respectively during the period.
However, exports in February 2012 increased by 4.95 percent to $ 1.97 billion, over the earnings of $ 1.88 billion in February 2011.
Exports earning in February, however, fell short of target by 7.79 percent. 
 
BBN/SSR/AD-09Mar12-2:30 pm (BST)