Staff Correspondent, Dhaka
In the first four months of the current financial year, Bangladesh’s ready-made garment (RMG) exports have increased by about 6 percent compared to the previous fiscal year. In the first four months of the last financial year, apparel exports were worth $ 13.95 billion. In the first four months of the current financial year, readymade garments worth 14.78 billion dollars have been exported. This export is 5.95 percent more than the same period of the last financial year. After analyzing the data of the Export Promotion Bureau (EPB), BGMEA, the top association of BD RMG owners, said on Wednesday.
In terms of money, almost half of BD RMG are exported to the European Union (EU). And almost one-fifth of the total clothing is exported to the United States (US). Exports to the EU between these two major markets rose by 4 percent in the last four months. Exports also increased by 14.5 percent in the UK, which left the EU. On the other hand, exports to new markets also increased by 17 percent. However, apparel exports to the United States fell by 3 percent. Exports to Canada also fell by 1.5 percent.
In the first four months of the current financial year, RMG worth 7.07 billion USD have been exported from Bangladesh to EU countries. In the same period of the last financial year, exports of garments were worth 6.79 billion dollars. Accordingly, exports have increased by 3.99 percent.
Exports of BD-made RMG to 12 out of 27 EU countries have declined in the last four months. The remaining 15 have increased. Among the EU countries, Germany, Spain, France, Netherlands, Italy and Poland are the export destinations of the most clothing. Among these top six EU destinations, only Germany saw a drop in exports.
On the other hand, during July to October of the current financial year, $ 2.58 billion worth of garments have been exported to the US market. This export is 3.5 percent less than the same period of the last financial year.
In the first four months of the current financial year, BD exported RMG to Germany worth $6.68 billion. This export is 11.5 percent less than the same period of last financial year. Apart from this, 1.81 billion dollars worth of RMG were exported to the UK. In this case, exports increased by 14.63 percent.
On the other hand, in the last four months, the exports of garments made from Bangladesh to the markets of Spain and France were 1.31 and 1.81 billion dollars, respectively. Among them, exports to Spain increased by 17 percent and France by 2.5 percent.
In the first four months of the current financial year, RMG worth $28.66 billion have been exported to new markets. These exports are 17 percent higher than the same period of the previous fiscal year. Among new markets, apart from India, apparel exports increased to Japan, Australia, Russia, South Korea, China and the United Arab Emirates (UAE).