Confusion has arisen regarding exports data of readymade garments as the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) says garments worth $3.36 billion were exported in the just-concluded August, however, according to the Export Promotion Bureau (EPB), the export of garments worth $2.46 billion in the same period.
However, the country’s total exports of goods have returned to a positive trend in the second month of the current fiscal year 2020-21.
Citing data from the National Board of Revenue (NBR), BGMEA, an association of garment industry owners, said on 1 August that garments worth $3.36 billion were exported in August. This is 47.25 percent more than in August last year. Last July, garments worth $3.24 billion were exported.
However, the Export Promotion Bureau (EPB) said that garments exports were worth $0.9 billion less than BGMEA’s estimate in August.
According to EPB sources, the export of readymade garments (RMG) has reached $.246 billion, which is 7.89 percent more than that of August last year. Although the EPB did not officially release this information until 3 September. Therefore, it could not be ascertained whether the discrepancy in the calculation was true or not.
According to NBR and EPB, the gap of almost 0.9 Billion is unreasonable. EPB Vice-Chairman AHM Ahsan said that in the first two months of the current financial year, the export of goods has increased by 2.17 percent.
Regarding the information on garment exports, he said that NBR was the primary source of information here. As a preliminary port of Chittagong port, 58,988 containers were exported last August. The number in July was 74,849. In August last year, 62,000 export containers were transported. However, this calculation has been done in Bandar, Kamalapur Depot and ICT. One purchase after another was canceled and suspended in March after the carnivorous spread to the United States and Europe.
Meanwhile, factories in the country have been closed for a month after a general holiday was declared in March to prevent the spread of the virus. In April, garment exports plummeted. But exports rose to $1.23 billion in May. In June, it rose further to $2.25 billion.
Due to the three-month push in, garment exports in the 2019-20 fiscal year, which ended last June, amounted to $2.795 billion, which is $6.18 billion less than the previous fiscal year. In the last 2018-19 financial year, garments worth $3,413 crore were exported. At that time the growth was11 percent.
When asked, Mohammad Hatem, 1st Vice-President of BKMEA, an association of net garment industry owners, said it was necessary to find out why there was a discrepancy between the NBR and EPB’s information on garment exports.
In response to another question, he said that it is difficult to match the reality with 47 percent growth in August. After talking to several entrepreneurs in the last two-three days. All but one said they exported less than in August last year. In August alone, the export of goods was 296 crore dollars. In this case, the growth has been 4.37 percent.
