Cement exports from Bangladesh slide in 7MFY19-20

Bangladesh's cement industry has earned an export revenue of US$6.11m in the 7MFY19-20 (July 2019-January 2020), compared to US$6.55m earned in 7MFY18-19, a contraction of 6.7 per cent YoY. The export figure also includes a minor amount of salt, stone and related products, says data of Bangladesh Export Promotion Bureau (EPB).
 
However, the export value for cement increased by 0.5 per cent above the the 7MFY19-20 government target of US$6.08m.
 
The EPB had set a lower export target for the cement industry at US$10.5m for FY19-20 compared to US$14m for the previous fiscal year, following a decrease of cement export earnings to U$10.41m in FY18-19.
 
The country's total export earnings continued to decline as merchandise shipments witnessed a 5.2 per cent fall during the last seven months of current fiscal year of 2019-20. The aggregate export earnings during July to January of FY19-20 stood at US$22.91bn, against US$24.17bn earnings of the corresponding period of last fiscal, according to the Export Promotion Bureau (EPB) data.
 
Cement is reportedly being exported by Bangladeshi cement producers to India, Myanmar, Nepal, Maldives and Sri Lanka.