Bangladesh's home textile export growth in first 11 months of the just concluded 2008-09 fiscal year slowed down to 10.14 percent against the same period a year earlier as global recession hurt market in developed counties, officials said on Tuesday.
According to statistics of the Export Promotion Bureau (EPB), the South Asian country fetched 290.36 million U.S. dollars from exports of home textile items like bed linen, kitchen curtain, mosquito nets, bed pad as well as furnishing fibre in the July-Mayperiod of 2008-09 fiscal year (July 2008-June 2009).
Growth in export of home textile steadily decelerated from 27.75 percent in the first quarter of 2008-09 fiscal year to 18.43 percent in the first half and 10.88 percent in the first ten months,the EPB data showed.
Sector insiders said demand for home textile, which virtually constitutes products for domestic consumption, slided since severity of recession deepened in the developed markets in Europe and the United States.
"We're lucky that there is still growth," said Jane Alam, a home textile exporter said, adding that performance of the sector could be much better unless recession would take its toll.
Another exporter Rahim Uddin said demand for home textile items in the global market still remained sluggish.
An EPB official on condition of anonymity as he is not authorized to talk to media said earning from export of home textile items fell short of target by 5.76 percent in the July-Mayperiod.
"We' ve come to know from exporters that the growth will continue to dip even in June widening gap between target and achievement figures," he said.
According to the EBB, Bangladesh earned 291.39 million U.S. dollars from export of home textile in the previous 2007-08 fiscal year with 13.39 percent growth.
