The fiscal year 2007-08 saw Bangladesh earning US $14.110 billion in export revenues, registering a growth of 15.87 percent compared to the previous year. The largest contribution, as always, came from the readymade garment (RMG) sector.
Although the target set by the Government was $14.500 billion for fiscal 2007-08, the growth realized was still close and very substantial. Of the total revenues fetched, woven and knitwear, the two key sub sectors of RMG, alone brought in some $10.699 billion.
While the knitwear sub sector earned $5.532 billion in July- June period, up by 21.50 percent over the corresponding period last year, woven garments fetched $5.167 billion registering a growth of 10.94 percent compared to the same period of 2006-07.
Ms.Rumana Akhter, Acting Chief Executive officer of Bangladesh Knitwear Manufacturers' Association (BKMEA) revealed to Fibre2fashion that, "knitwear became the single largest foreign exchange earner, followed by woven, together exceeding the target for the just ended fiscal and accounting for a stupendous 76 percent of the country's export earnings." In the month of June alone, exports of knitwear reached $603 million, up by 24 percent over the same month of 2007.
However, a considerable amount of revenue was also generated by exports of petroleum byproducts, textile fabrics, footwear, home textiles, terry towel, and leather all of which delivered a strong performance in the period under review.
Bangladesh continues to expand its RMG sector helped by exploring new export markets like Poland, Russia and Uzbekistan and ensuring a greater growth in the years to come.