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Export of non-RMG products remained almost static over the past several years, indicating the country’s overreliance on RMG.

According to the Export Promotion Bureau, non-RMG sectors have accounted for only 17 per cent to 18 per cent of Bangladesh’s total export earnings for the past several years.

Exporters stated that insufficient and non-uniform policy support, economic challenges in buyer countries, and a lack of proper diversification continued dependence on RMG export.

In the financial year 2024-25, Bangladesh shipped export items worth $48.28 billion to its global destinations, where the earnings from RMG were $39.35 billion or about 81.49 per cent, meaning the share of non-RMG items only 18.51 per cent.

The major non-RMG items, including leather and leather goods, jute and jute goods, agricultural products, home textiles, and engineering products, generated $1.14 billion, $820.16 million, $988.62 million, $871.57 million, and $535.56 million respectively.

Apart from RMG items, only leather was able to reach the milestone of $1 billion, according to the EPB data.

‘Due to a lack of governmental policy support, the leather sector had been unable to break out of the $1 billion cycle for decades,’ said Md Nasir Khan, vice-president of the Leather Goods and Footwear Manufacturers and Exporters Association of Bangladesh.

Speaking to ¶¶Òõ¾«Æ·, he also stated that Bangladesh lacks a unified policy and incentive facilities for all export-oriented sectors.

‘Despite having domestic supply of raw materials and high-quality products, leather sector is lagging behind years after years,’ he added.

He also stated that the leather sector has the capacity to earn $10 billion, as it can add value of up to 90 per cent, thanks to its raw materials. However, the government destroyed this opportunity by transferring the industry to Savar without proper establishment and the required CETP.

According to the EPB data, the leather and leather goods sector earned $797.7 million in FY20, $1.17 billion in FY23, and $1.14 billion in FY25, indicating that the industry was unable to break the $1 billion cycle.

The jute and jute goods sector, once the country’s largest export earner, has experienced negative growth for a prolonged period. 

In FY20, the sector earned $882.35 million, $911.51 million in FY23, and $820.16 million in FY25.

Speaking to ¶¶Òõ¾«Æ·, KS Alam Babul, chairman of the Bangladesh Jute Goods Exporters Association, stated that the anti-dumping duty imposed by India on Bangladeshi jute goods has caused a setback.

‘Some major buyers like Sudan, Syria and Iran are addressing either war situation or economic turmoil and sanctions, which impacted their imports,’ he added.

Moreover, they couldn’t accept large orders as all the government jute mills were closed, he added, saying that the private jute mills don’t have the capacity for bulk production.

‘We urged the government several times about reopening the jute mills under BJMC. However, we think an elected government could take the initiatives,’ he added.

Meanwhile, Farhad Ahmed Akand, chairman of the Bangladesh Jute Association, said that due to high time and cost consumption, farmers have lost interest in jute farming.

‘Along with commerce ministry, we are running a project through farmers so that they can produce jute in less time by using less water and space,’ he added.

They also stated that, due to the low price of fibre at the growers› level and the emergence of plastic products as an alternative, jute exports were impacted, along with the slashing of incentives on jute goods. 

The agricultural products earned $862.06 million in FY20, $827.10 million in FY23, and $988.62 million in FY25.

An official of Alin Foods Exports Ltd. said that the government›s incentive cut, higher import costs of agri-inputs and other ingredients, impacted the export.

For instance, the rate of cash incentive for the sector has been reduced to 10 per cent from 20 per cent, he added.

Engineering products, another promising sector, has earned $529 million in FY20, $495 million in FY23, and $535.56 million in FY25.

Abdur Razzaque, president of the angladesh Engineering Industry Owners’ Association, told earlier that they need a dedicated industrial park or zones to establish compliant and global standard factory units to compete with international competitors so that they could tap $7 trillion global market of light engineering.

He also demanded that the policy be supported by removing tax and VAT-related issues.

Talking to ¶¶Òõ¾«Æ·, M Masrur Reaz, chairman of the Policy Exchange Bangladesh, said that the country didn’t utilise its capacity and potential on non-RMG products.

‘For leather sector, the authority didn’t strengthen the seamless connections among different value chains like rawhide collecting, processing, finishing and backward linkage,’ he added.

He also stated that a significant number of companies in the sector lacked standard certificates, such as LWG, which deterred foreign buyers from importing.

‘Most of our sectors beside RMG couldn’t achieve the proper efficiency of the global competitiveness. We also don’t have integrated planning, especially on infrastructure, finance, and skill,’ he added.  

Bangladesh hasn’t witnessed sufficient FDI in emerging sectors besides the RMG, and these emerging sectors also have limitations in areas like global competitiveness, skills, and efficiencies. He urged the government to work for product diversification.

The exporters said that sometimes it seemed that policymakers didn’t want other sectors to export more, as it didn’t receive sufficient policy support.

To diversify products, the government must remove the discrimination between the RMG sector and all other export-oriented sectors, they added.