DHAKA, Feb 25: Bangladesh’s exports rose around 15 per cent to $4.945 billion in the second half of 2005 from $4.302 billion in the same period of the previous year, officials of the state-run Export Promotion Bureau (EPB) said on Saturday.

The country exported $934.39 million worth of goods in December, up 26 per cent from a year earlier, they said. Export volume picked up by 19 per cent.

The exports were mainly boosted by knitwear sector which performs better than expected. Frozen foods, leather, jute goods, petroleum by-products and textile fabrics performed well too, said Mir Shahabuddin Mohammad, vice chairman of the Export Promotion Bureau.

Knitwear exports surged by 28 per cent to $1.79 billion in the first half of 2005-06 fiscal year from $1.40 billion a year earlier.

Total earnings from knit exports were $2.82 billion in 2004-05.

Bangladesh’s financial year runs from July to June.

Export of knitwear products including sweaters, t-shirts, undergarments and socks to some major markets have increased substantially after the quota phase-out last year.

Export of woven garments rose close to 5 per cent to $1.91 billion in that period from $1.82 billion a year earlier.

The textile industry is the country’s biggest employer — providing jobs for 1.8 million workers, mostly women — after agriculture.

Like other countries, Bangladesh is monitoring how the expiry at the end of last year of WTO global quotas on apparel exports is affecting its ready-made garments industry, which generates three quarters of exports.

Bangladesh earned $6.42 billion from the textile exports in the year ended in June 2005, in which total exports rose 14.5 per cent to $8.7 billion from $7.6 billion a year earlier.

The frozen food sector fetched $235.67 million in July-December ’05, down 4.6 per cent from the last year’s export level, but beat a target of $217.80 million.—Reuters