by Naim-Ul-Karim
DHAKA, June 6 (Xinhua) -- Driven by a rebound in foreign demand amid economic recovery from COVID-19 in parts of the world, Bangladesh's May exports grew at a record pace from a year earlier.
Exports in dollar terms skyrocketed 112.11 percent in May compared with a year earlier thanks to the rebound of readymade garment (RMG) shipment with the reopening of major world economies after months in doldrums.
With 3.11 billion U.S. dollars export income in May, Bangladesh's total exports in the first 11 months of the current 2020-21 fiscal year (July 2020-June 2021) reached 35.18 billion U.S. dollars, up 13.64 percent year on year, official data showed on Sunday.
According to the country's Export Promotion Bureau (EPB) data posted on its website, Bangladesh fetched 35,180.82 million U.S. dollars from exports in the first 11 months of the current fiscal year.
Export income from readymade garment, which usually contributes 84 percent in the national export in a year, surged by 11.1 percent to 28.56 billion U.S. dollars in the first 11 months of the current 2020-21 fiscal year.
Of the total earnings from garment in July-May period, 15.36 billion U.S. dollars came from knitwear shipment and 13.20 billion U.S. dollars from woven, registering 20.55 percent and 1.80 percent year-on-year growth respectively.
Apart from RMG, jute and jute goods export grew by 33.23 percent to 1.09 billion U.S. dollars, leather and leather goods by 14.43 percent to 846.08 million U.S. dollars.
Also frozen food and live fish export grew by 0.98 percent year-on-year to 430 million U.S. dollars, agricultural products rose by 16.13 percent to 905.99 million U.S. dollars and pharmaceuticals export grew by 18.99 percent to 145.44 million U.S. dollars.
Bangladesh 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, the EPB data showed.
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, as earnings from garment items have been experienced severe slowdown for months due to the COVID-19 pandemic in home and abroad. Enditem
