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Export earnings exceed target |
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August 2, 2000
Dhaka (UNB) - Country's export earning exceeded slightly the target of fiscal 1999-2000 registering 8.27 per cent up over the previous fiscal. The export earning stood at 5,752.20 million US dollar against the target of 5,738.00 million US dollar set for the fiscal, according to an Export Promotion Bureau (EPB) publication released yesterday (Tuesday). In 1998-99, goods and services worth 5,312.86 million dollar were exported from the country. "Increase in both prices and quantity of exportable goods helped achieved the target," said an official. The volume of export increased by 7.82 per cent during the fiscal while price of the goods gained by 0.45 per cent from fiscal 1998-99. The price index of primary commodities declined in the international market by 5.61 per cent, but the volume of export registered 16.69 per cent increase. For industrial products, both the price and quantity increased by 1.03 per cent and 7 per cent respectively. Readymade garments performed best to contribute to the national export with its 76.23 per cent share (US dollar 4,352.39 million) followed by frozen food about 6 per cent, jute goods 4.62 per cent and leather 3.39 per cent. Tea suffered major setback to slash earning from the item by over 54 per cent from the previous fiscal while earning from jute goods reduced by 12.51 per cent, handicrafts by 32.19 per cent and raw jute by 0.18 per cent. The publication said export earning from all the sectors, bar traditional goods, increased during the period compared to same period of the previous fiscal. The items included petroleum and chemical products, readymade garments, knitwear, frozen food, leather, electronics, other industrial goods and primary commodities. The earning from traditional items like agriculture produces, tea, raw jute, jute goods, engineering products and handicrafts declined in 1999-2000. The items that fell short of target included agriculture produces, tea, engineering products, jute goods, readymade garments, chemical products, electronics and raw jute while the items achieved the year's target included leather, knitwear, frozen food, petroleum products and other primary and industrial commodities. Like previous years, America topped the list of importers from Bangladesh. In 1999-2000, the country imported goods and services worth 2,273.25 million US dollar, 39.52 per cent of Bangladesh's total export. Other importing countries included Germany (11.44 per cent), UK (8.69 per cent), France (6.38 per cent) and Italy (4.31 per cent). Neighbouring India imported goods, including raw jute and frozen food, worth only 64.88 million dollar. |