The country's exports income recorded a moderate growth of 5.81 per cent to US$ 36.66 billion in the just-concluded fiscal year (FY) of 2017-18, the government said on Wednesday.
Exporters and officials attributed the performance to apparels, jute and leather.
The three sectors together fetched about $ 32.71 billion.
However, the total export receipts were 2.22 per cent less than the strategic target, set earlier for the last fiscal year (FY).
The country earned $ 34.65 billion through the shipment of merchandise goods during the July-June period of FY 2016-17, according to the state-run Export Promotion Bureau (EPB) data.
Of the total, the readymade garment (RMG) sector posted 8.76 per cent growth to $ 30.61 billion during the immediate past fiscal year over the previous fiscal.
Knitwear products earned $ 15.18 billion during the last fiscal, recording 10.40 per cent growth over that the previous fiscal, the EPB data revealed.
Earnings from the shipment of knitwear products were $ 13.75 billion during July-June period of the FY 2016-17.
On the other hand, export receipts from woven garments until June of the last fiscal rose by 7.18 per cent to nearly $15.42 billion compared to $14.39 billion in the previous fiscal.
Export earnings from home textile products reached $ 878.68 million until June of the last fiscal, up by 9.95 per cent from that of the FY 2016-17.
"We are very happy as the earnings touched to the $ 30 billion benchmark for the first time," Md Siddiqur Rahman, president of the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) told the FE on Wednesday.
Regarding the growth, he said the expansion is "satisfactory" compared with the previous year's mere 0.20 per cent.
He, however, noted that the growth momentum could be maintained provided the existing problems at the Dhaka airport and Chattogram port are addressed.
The knit sector earned at least $ 1.0 billion more in the last fiscal because of the Football World Cup, Mohammad Hatem, vice president of the Exporters Association of Bangladesh (EAB) said.
He suggested efforts to boost earnings from the non-traditional markets.
"The government should work aggressively to get duty-free facility in the potential emerging markets such as Russia and Brazil where local apparels face high duty," he noted.
Of other items, exports of jute and jute goods fetched $ 1.02 billion, up by nearly 6.56 per cent from that of a year ago.
Jute yarn and twine recorded a growth of 6.55 per cent to $ 647.72 million, while raw jute recorded a fall of 7.24 per cent to $ 155.68 million.
Jute sacks and bags earned $ 122.82 million, marking 3.69 per cent negative growth.
Earnings from the shipment of leather and leather products fell by 12.03 per cent to reach $ 1.08 billion.
The earnings from the sector also fell short of the target by 21.34 per cent set for the fiscal.
Only leather footwear grew by 5.33 per cent with earnings worth $ 565.60 million.
The country fetched $ 1.23 billion from the shipment of leather and leather goods.
Export receipts from frozen and live fish amounted to $ 508.43 million and that of agricultural products reached $673.70 million.
The amounts were $ 526.45 million and $553.17 million respectively in the fiscal 2016-17.
The government had earlier fixed the country's total exports target at $ 37.50 billion for the FY, 2017-18.
The export bureau, however, proposed $ 40 billion exports income for the FY, 2018-19.
