The country's export earnings declined by 6.82 per cent during the July-October period of the current fiscal year, compared to the corresponding period of the last fiscal year (FY).
The aggregate export earnings for the first four months of FY 2019-20 stood at US$ 12.72 billion, which also fell short of the strategic target of nearly $14.33 billion, according to the Export Promotion Bureau (EPB) data.
Earnings from the merchandise export during this period were recorded at $13.65 billion.
The export earnings for the month of October 2019 reached $3.07 billion, registering a decline of 17 per cent, compared to the same month of 2018, the EPB data show.
Such a drop in export receipts during the July-October period resulted from the decline in the export value of readymade garment (RMG) products, the country's top foreign currency earning sector, the EPB figures revealed.
The overall export earnings from RMG items -- both knitwear and woven garments -- fell by 6.67 per cent during the first four months of the current fiscal year.
The country's RMG sector fetched nearly $10.58 billion during July-October period of FY 2019-20 as against $11.33 billion during the same period of FY '19.
In the RMG sector, the earnings from exports of woven garments fell by 7.67 per cent to $ 5.04 billion during the four months of this fiscal over the same period of the last fiscal, the EPB figures show.
The export value of knitwear products during the first four months of the current fiscal also dropped by 5.73 per cent to nearly $5.54 billion.
The country's knitwear products fetched over $5.87 billion during the first four months of the last fiscal year.
The export earnings from other key sectors also declined considerably during this July-October period over the corresponding period of last fiscal.
Among the major exportable products, earnings from the export of leather and leather goods fell by 8.2 per cent to $316.90 million while that of specialised textile items by 7.54 per cent to $41.91 million during the four-month period.
Export receipts from jute and jute goods, however, bucked the trend, registering an increase of 8.88 per cent to reach $314.49 million during the July-October period of this fiscal as against $288.65 million in the same period of the last fiscal.
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