Export earnings from the USA, the largest export destination for Bangladesh goods, witnessed a 4.57% fall during the first half (July-December) of the current fiscal (2014-15), mostly due to the poor performance of the RMG sector, UNB reported.

Bangladesh exports to the USA totalled $ 2,663.26 million in the first half (July-December) of fiscal 2014-15 compared to $ 2,790.86 million during the corresponding period of the previous fiscal (2013-14). The amount represents 17.86% of the country’s total export earnings during the period.

According to the statistics compiled recently by the Export Promotion Bureau (EPB), the major exports to the US market during the six-month period were woven garment ($ 1,819.47mn), knitwear ($ 623.34mn), frozen shrimp ($ 18.96mn), home textiles ($ 53.40mn) and cap ($ 22.73mn).

During the period, around 30.51%  of the country’s total woven garment exports entered the US market, followed by knitwear 10.28%.

Bangladesh’s export earnings from the US in the 2013-14 fiscal were impressive with $ 5,583.62 million, up from $ 5,419.60 million fetched in fiscal 2012-13.

The country’s export earnings from the US in fiscal 2011-12 were also satisfactory worth $ 5,100.91 million, slightly down from $ 5,107.52 million in fiscal 2010-11. The export earnings in fiscal 2009-10, however, totalled $ 3,950.47 million, down from $ 4,052.00 million in 2008-09, mostly because of the global economic recession.

The 2009-10 fiscal marked the end of an ups-and-down period for Bangladesh exports to the US. From the robust $ 2.5 billion during the 2000-01 fiscal, exports had fallen below $ 2 billion by 2003-04.

Exports to the US rose steadily to cross the $ 3 billion mark in 2005-06, and peaked to nearly $ 3.6 billion during the 2007-08 fiscal.