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Exports splutter down

Kawsar Khan
Export earnings went down by 10.07 percent in December of the current fiscal year against the same month in last fiscal, indicating that the Western financial trauma has begun to weigh on the country's export sector.
After October, it is for the second time in 2008-09 fiscal year that the country’ s monthly export fell that the exporters blame on the global recession, which is now creating a domino effect across the world after getting shaped in Europe and the USA
In December export sectors bagged USS 1,195.83 million, while the earning in the same month in last fiscal was S 1,329.70 million, according to Export Promotion Bureau (EPB) statistics.
Export earning was $133.87 million less in December than the earning in the same month last year, the statistics said. Export earning also dipped by 7.48 percent in last October compared to the same month in the last fiscal year.
However the overall exports in the first half of the current fiscal year posted a 19.38 percent growth, earning $7,852.59 million against $6,495.92 million in the same period of the previous fiscal.
According to export statistics, in the first half of the current fiscal year woven garments showed a 20.99 percent growth fetching $2,738.55 million and knitwear earned $3,172.03 million with a 27.07 percent growth.
Despite growth in woven and knitwear sectors, frozen food, the third largest export earner of the country, marked a negative growth of over 4 percent, earning $276.62 million against $280.20 million in the same period last year.
Raw jute, handicrafts, jute goods, pharmaceuticals, electronics, leather, ceramic products, cut flower/foliage, bicycle and iron chain also showed negative growth during the six-month period.
On the other hand, terry towel, textile fabrics, chemical fertiliser, footwear, home textile, tobacco and agro-processed food, among some others, posted positive export growth during the period.
While talking on export performance in December, President of Bangladesh Knitwear Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BKMEA) FazlulHoquesaid: "Under the banner of knitwear sector we have been saying from as early as last September that the global recession will certainly affect the export earnings of the country, but the government didn't pay anyheedtous."
Brushing aside the anticipation that the global financial meltdown will not affect Bangladesh since the country makes low-end products, he said, "The low-end market will be the first victim of the crisis because the consumers, generally low earners, will curtail their demands for cloths to adjust to low earnings."
However, while talking on the issue, EPB Vice Chairman Shahab
Ullah did not link the export fall to recession, saying there could be different other reasons behind the fall in export earnings.
Showing an example, he said: "Although there was a negative growth in October, export earnings increased in November and the situation may change again in February."
He also called upon not to lose nerve on the topsy-turvy trend of export.
The EPB vice chairman was optimistic about achieving the $16.3 billion export target fixed for the current fiscal year since, he said,
the overall export performance in the July-December period was 'satisfactory'.
Alike Bangladesh, exports of the countries known as Bangladesh's export competitors have also been hampered resulting from the global financial meltdown. In December China's export went down by 2.8 percent compared to the same month in the previous year, according to international weekly The Economist.
Export earnings of Japan fell by 35 percent and Singapore's by 20 percent during the time.
kawsar@thedailystar.net