Export earnings declined in the just-ended month of September. The country exported goods worth $3.62 billion last month, which is 4.73 per cent less than the same period last year, when exports totaled $3.8 billion.
Exporters say Bangladesh's main export product is ready-made garments. Usually, relatively few products are exported in July, August and September. Since last April, there has been some unrest over US President Donald Trump's counter-tariffs.
The counter-tariffs were supposed to be implemented in various countries on July 31. Due to this, many products were shipped in July to avoid the counter-tariffs in the US market. Many products that were suspended were also exported. In this situation, many exports were made in July, although the counter-tariffs finally took effect on August 7.
Besides this, the export earnings witnessed a 5.64 per cent growth in the first three months from July to September of the current fiscal year 2025-26 (FY26), raising the total volume to $ 12.31 billion.
During the July-September period of the last fiscal, the total export earnings were $11.66 billion, according to data of the EPB released here on Sunday.
Despite this overall positive performance, year-on-year growth declined by 4.61 percent in September 2025.
Export earnings for September 2025 stood at $3.63 billion, slightly lower than the $3.80 billion achieved in September 2024.
As usual, the Readymade Garment (RMG) sector maintained its leading position, contributing $9.97 billion during the July to September of the fiscal registering 4.79 percent increase over the same period last fiscal.
Export Promotion Bureau of Bangladesh has released the RMG export data for July-Sep 2025-26.
The country has achieved $9.97 billion export with a growth rate of 4.79 per cent where the Knit sector has achieved $5.58 billion export with a growth rate of 4.31 per cent and the Woven sector has achieved $4.39 billion export with a growth rate of 5.41 per cent.
For the month of September, the country has achieved $2.84 billion export with a growth rate of -5.66 per cent where the Knit sector has achieved $1.63 billion export with a growth rate of -5.75 per cent and Woven sector has achieved $1.21 billion export with a growth rate of -5.54 per cent.
President of the Bangladesh Knitwear Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BKMEA), Mohammad Hatem said, "Bangladesh's ready-made garment exports fell by 5.66 percent in September 2019 due to the impact of the US tariff shock, which is also reflected in the country's overall export earnings."
He said, "the ready-made garment sector has seen negative growth as most buyers are not placing any new orders. They are now trying to pass on a portion of the additional 20 percent reciprocal duty to Bangladeshi suppliers."
Exporters cannot afford this additional burden, as they are already under various pressures, including the impact of initial tariff adjustments and increased production costs.
"In addition, Bangladeshi exporters are also facing tough competition in the European Union (EU) and other markets, as Chinese and Indian manufacturers are trying to increase exports to these markets to compensate for the loss in the US market. We fear that this slowdown may continue for the next two to three months. However, if international buyers can adapt to the new tariff structure, we hope that our exports will recover. During this time, exporters will have to be patient and face any pressure from buyers," he added.
The EPB publishes detailed information on the quantity of goods exported from Bangladesh to which countries. The organization does this by taking statistics from the NBR. However, the EPB has not yet published it. Therefore, it is not possible to confirm which goods increased in July-September and which goods decreased.
