Riding high on decent performance put forth by apparels, Bangladesh’s exports in September fetched US $ 4.16 billion, which is the highest single-month receipt — with exports worth US $ 3.91 billion, earlier, the monthly highest earnings were recorded in July 2020 — with garment manufacturers citing improving pandemic situation in export destinations for the same, which they said pushed up the demand for apparels, even if they acknowledged that closure of factories in competing countries due to COVID-19 was also an advantage for Bangladesh to gain more export share in the global market even if the September earnings have also surpassed the target set for the month by 39.17 per cent.
Media reports maintained this while citing the data from the country’s Export Promotion Bureau or EPB, as per which, export earnings in September of the current financial year of 2021-22 increased by 38 per cent, i.e., US $ 1.14 billion year-on-year from what was US $ 3.01 billion in the same month of the past fiscal year, even as garment exports in September 2021 went up by 41.66 per cent, an increase of more than US $ 1 billion to US $ 3.42 billion from what was US $ 2.41 billion in September 2020 while the exports earnings in July-September period of FY22 increased by 11.37 per cent to US $ 11.02 billion from that of US $ 9.89 billion in the July-September period of FY21 with earnings from readymade garments growing by 11.48 per cent to US $ 9.08 billion in the first quarter of FY21 from what was US $ 8.12 billion in the same period of the past fiscal year.
“…we have gained the confidence of global buyers by keeping production going during the pandemic…,” reportedly, stated BGMEA President Faruque Hassan while expressing hopes earnings from apparel will increase further in the coming months, and added, “export earnings from apparels grew by more than US $ 1 billion in September as both the unit prices of products and the export orders increased in recent times.”
