Bangladesh garment exports up 2.21% in July-April FY17

The increase in the value of garment exports was lower than the 3.92 per cent growth registered in overall exports by Bangladesh during the ten-month period.

Category-wise, knitwear exports rose 4.81 per cent to $11.254 billion in the first ten months of fiscal 2016-17, as against exports of $10.737 billion during the same months of the previous fiscal, as per the data. Germany was the largest importer accounting for $2.343 billion of all knitwear exported from Bangladesh, followed by the United Kingdom with imports of goods valued at $1.368 billion.

However, exports of woven apparel decreased by 0.14 per cent to $11.883 billion during the ten-month period under review, compared to exports of $11.899 billion during July-April 2015-16. The United States was the largest importer with $3.207 billion worth of woven clothing supplied by Bangladesh. Germany and the United Kingdom procured woven apparel valued at $2.007 billion and $1.347 billion, respectively.

Woven and knitted apparel and clothing accessories’ exports together accounted for 80.55 per cent of $28.721 billion worth of total exports made by Bangladesh during the period under review.

In the previous fiscal that ended on June 30, 2016, garment exports earned $28.094 billion for Bangladesh, showing an increase of 10.21 per cent over $25.491 billion exports made in 2014-15. Of this, knitwear accounted for $13.355 billion while woven apparel constituted $14.738 billion.

For fiscal 2016-17, Bangladesh has set apparel export target of $30.379 billion, with knitted and woven categories contributing $14.169 billion and $16.210 billion respectively. (RKS)

Fibre2Fashion News Desk – India