Export excels despite pandemic

Export remains the driving force of the economy of a country, helping to earn the much needed foreign currency to pay for the imports of essential commodities like industrial machinery and raw materials, life-saving drugs and medicine etc. When we look at the history of the newly born country of Bangladesh, we see that the journey of the nascent country began with a meager amount of foreign currency in the public exchequer in 1972.

The then government found it a herculean task to pay for imports of essential commodities in foreign currency. The country’s export volume was limited to a few traditional commodities like jute, tea and rawhide. So, Bangladesh earned only 0.36 billion US dollars in 1972 through export of these items. Gradually, over the years, with the inclusion of many different traditional and no-traditional items in the basket, the export earnings began to increase exponentially. The export basket began to expand in the last two decades and as a result, in the year 2020, our export figure stood at USD 39.50 billion. Through the efforts undertaken by the private sector business community our products began to reach many new export destinations. Conducive government policy and support of the financial institutes played a significant role in making it possible.

Readymade garments continue to dominate the export scene earning about 81% of the total foreign currency. In 2019, RMG fetched over 34 billion U.S. dollars while in 2020 it earned 27.95 billion U.S. dollars. The fall in RMG export in 2020 was because of the standstill situation caused by the Covid-19 pandemic. The RMG sector grew by 11.56 per cent in the month of August 2020.  In August, exports earning from the RMG sector stood at $2.753 billion, which was $2.468 billion in August 2020. However, in July, this sector earned $3.244 billion which is 11.02 per cent negative compared to July, 2020.

Today, Bangladesh has a plethora of items in its export basket and our products go to all corners of the world. Even during the ongoing pandemic, export has picked up again rising by 14 per cent from the previous years. Understandably, it will take more time to recover from the pandemic shock but good news is many overseas buyers of Bangladesh are getting back to business after massive vaccination drives in those countries. The exporters are confident that the export earnings will soon be equal to that of the pre-Covid-19 period.

Some of the mentionable export items from Bangladesh include: Ready-made Garments & Knitwear, Home Textile Products, Leather and Leather Goods, Jute and Jute Products, Light engineering and Electronic products, Agricultural Products, Fish and Shrimps, Ceramic wares,  Pharmaceuticals, Toiletries and Cosmetics, Software and ICT products, Ships and vessels. Besides, traditional handicrafts made of cloth, jute, wood and clay also enjoy good demand in some overseas markets.  

The report on the topic in this daily yesterday gave details on the impressive export performance in recent months. The woven garments sector earned $1.152 billion, against $1.104 billion in August, 2020. On the other hand, the knitwear sector earned $1.600 billion with 17.29 per cent growth, which was $1.365 in the previous year. The BKMEA leaders are happy because their regular export destinations are returning to normalcy. It is one of the reasons for export growth they observe.

Good news from the home textile sector too as it is also seeing positive export growth for the past two months. Earnings from this sector in July-August are $175 million with 4.18 per cent growth, which was $168 million in July-August of 2020. And the first two months of the FY 2021-22, leather and leather goods sector enjoyed export growth. This sector earned $174.71 million with 12.91 per cent growth in the two months but it was $154.74 million in the same time of FY 2020-21.

We feel the upward trend of exports should be given full support by all stakeholders so that we can earn more foreign currency in the near future. Product quality improvement is another factor exporters will have to think seriously to stay in the global competition.