Page 2 of 4
www.AssignmentPoint.com
Overall Changes in Composition of Exports and
Imports
The highly disparate growth patterns of individual export
product groups have inevitably led to large changes in the
export composition over time. Exports of jute, jute goods,
tea and leather, constituted most of Bangladesh’s total
exports in the early years. These exports precipitously fell
drastically in the recent years. At present the dominance
of raw jute and jute goods in the export trade of
Bangladesh has weakened considerably, and the RMG
product group has boomed substantially in the recent
years. The share of raw jute in export earnings has fallen
from 38% in the year 1972 to to 1.5 in the year 2005.
Over the same period, the share of jute goods declined
from 52 percent to less than 4 percent. Another main
exports item, tea, declined from 6.3% to 0.12%t during
the period. Tea’s relative export share did increase in
some of the years in the 1980s but it declined sharply in
later years. The share of leather in total exports showed a
significant increase from about 1% in 1972 to more than
16 percent in the late 1980s. But it declined to 2.7 percent
in the year 2005.
Page 3 of 4
www.AssignmentPoint.com
19721977198219871992199720022007
0.00%
10.00%
20.00%
30.00%
40.00%
50.00%
60.00%
70.00%
80.00%
90.00%
100.00%
Percentage of Total Export According to Sector
Frozen FoodRaw Jute Teajute goodsrmg and knitwares
On the other hand, exports in readymade garments and
knit wears dramatically grew over the years. The
composition of readymade garments increased from 0.1
percent in 1980 to 43.2 percent in the year 2005. Knit
wears export increased from 1% in the year 1989 to 40%
in the year 2005. The very fast growth of the readymade
garments and knit wears in the export arena are the main
reason behind the exports and economic growth in
Bangladesh. Though Bangladesh faced setbacks in
exporting jute and jute goods, the exports of the RMG
product group has more than made up for the loss. The
share of frozen food increased from less than 1 percent to
5 percent during the years. Frozen food’s share in total
exports was higher in the 1980s but its later decline
reflected a deceleration in its growth performance in
recent years.