Export Earnings Reach $17.04 Billion in Four Months, Growing Nearly 6 Percent

Bangladesh's merchandise export earnings stood at US$17.04 billion in the first four months (July–October) of the current 2026-27 fiscal year. In the same period of the previous fiscal year, earnings were $16.08 billion. Export earnings have thus increased by $960 million, or nearly 6 percent, in a year.

The readymade garment sector played the biggest role in this growth. Positive growth was also seen in exports of jute and jute goods, leather, chemical products, home textiles and footwear. However, export earnings fell for agricultural products, frozen and live fish, and cotton and cotton products.

The garment sector's position as the main source of export earnings became clearer still. In the four months, knitwear exports earned $7.71 billion, a growth of 7 percent compared with the same period of the previous fiscal year.

Oven garment exports, on the other hand, earned $6.00 billion, 4.8 percent more than the previous year. Combined, the two garment categories brought in $13.71 billion.

About 80.5 percent of total merchandise export earnings came from these two categories — meaning the bulk of the country's export income still depends on the readymade garment industry.

Several sectors outside garments also posted notable growth. Jute and jute goods earned $383 million, up 23.8 percent from the same period a year earlier.

Leather and leather goods exports stood at $464 million, 12.7 percent more than the previous year. Chemical products earned $157 million, growing 27.3 percent. In addition, home textile exports grew 7.4 percent and footwear exports 9.7 percent.

The positive growth in these sectors has highlighted the possibility of diversifying the country's export basket. In particular, if production capacity, quality improvement and access to international markets can be expanded in sectors such as jute, leather and footwear, dependence on garments could be reduced.

The export picture, however, is not equally positive in every sector. In the first four months, agricultural product exports fell 13.5 percent. Frozen and live fish exports declined 10.9 percent, and cotton and cotton product exports dropped 10.2 percent.

Overall, while the first four months' export statistics show a growth trend, they also expose a major weakness in the export structure: about four-fifths of total earnings come from knit and oven garments alone. Any big change in global demand or market conditions for garments could therefore affect the country's overall export earnings.

To reduce this risk, exports need to grow in other promising sectors including jute, leather, footwear, home textiles, chemicals and agricultural products, the analysis noted. It also stressed exploring new markets alongside traditional ones, improving product quality and design, controlling production costs and producing goods to international standards.

At the same time, the problems of the sectors where exports have declined must be identified and necessary support ensured, so that sectors beyond garments can also become major sources of export earnings.