Bangladesh export earnings fall for sixth consecutive month since August

The pace of decline has eased, with January earnings higher than December despite a year-on-year dip

Bangladesh’s earnings from goods and services exports have fallen for the sixth month in a row compared with the same period a year earlier.

Latest figures reveal that the country earned $4.41 billion in January 2026, marking a 0.5 percent dip from the $4.43 billion recorded in January 2025.

This downward trend, which surfaced in August last year, persists despite a slight recovery in momentum.

The Export Promotion Bureau (EPB) released the updated report on Monday, showing a fractional decrease of $22.3 million year-on-year.

Although the figures remain in the red, the pace of the decline has eased significantly compared with December, when earnings plummeted by 14.25 percent to $3.97 billion.

Consequently, January saw a month-on-month increase of $440 million, representing growth of over 11 percent.

The fiscal year began on a high note in July with a 24.76 percent surge in exports, but the trajectory shifted downward shortly afterwards.

Point-to-point data shows contractions of 2.93 percent in August, 4.61 percent in September, 7.43 percent in October, and 5.54 percent in November.

Total export receipts for the first seven months of the current fiscal year (July–January) stand at $28.41 billion, a 1.93 percent drop from the $28.97 billion earned during the same window last year.

This performance contrasts sharply with the first seven months of FY25, which saw a robust growth of 11.68 percent.

The primary driver of the export basket, the ready-made garment industry, brought in $3.61 billion this January, down 1.35 percent from the $3.66 billion earned a year earlier.

Within this sector, knitwear exports fell by 2.61 percent, while woven garments saw a marginal slide of 0.07 percent.

Agricultural exports declined by about 7 percent. Pharmaceuticals rose 13 percent, frozen and live fish exports increased 13 percent, jute and jute products grew 12 percent and leather and leather goods exports went up 6 percent.

Bangladesh exported $48.28 billion worth of goods and services in the first seven months of FY25.

The export target for FY26 has been set at $63.5 billion.