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The exports of agricultural products rose sharply in fiscal year (FY) 2017-18, propelled by record shipments of processed foods.
Traders exported products worth $674 million in FY ’18, a 22 per cent growth over that of FY ’17, showed the latest data of the Export Promotion Bureau.
Processed foods comprised more than 72 per cent or $490 million of the total farm produce exports, making it an all-time high, according to the official figures.
The trend seems to be continuing in the current fiscal year, thanks to the rising demand for the items abroad, trade insiders said.
Above 50 companies are exporting food products like confectionaries and beverages to different Middle Eastern, South Asian, African and European countries.
Pran, Square, Sajeeb, ACI, Partex, Globe, Bombay Sweets, Star Line Food Products, Akij Foods, BD Foods, Arku and Ahmed Foods lead the exporters, according to Bangladesh Agro-Processors' Association (BAPA).
Pran contributes more than 50 per cent to the total exports of the processed food items.
Kamruzzaman Kamal, director (marketing) of Pran, said his company is now exporting products to 141 countries across the globe.
India is their biggest importer, he mentioned.
Mr Kamal said the Bangladeshi expatriates also want to have the taste of desi (local) foods.
The demand for fruit drinks, juice, chanachur (a mixture of spicy dried ingredients), puffed rice, aromatic rice, mustard oil, fried pulses, pickles, jam and jelly is rising, he added.
Ahmed Foods managing director Minhaz Ahmed said the Middle East, Europe and North America aside, the demand for local products also rises in other Asian and African countries.
The recent successes in South Asia and Africa were due to the improvement in product quality and the competitive prices of Bangladeshi goods, he added.
BAPA senior vice-president SM Jahangir Hossain said processed food exports are also showing good prospects in the current fiscal year.
He said exporters earned $60 million only in July 2018. It was $33 million in the same period last year.
Mr Hossain pointed out that the export of raw agro-products almost remained stagnant following some self-imposed restrictions by the plant quarantine wing.
The government should remove the restrictions as the local traders have developed their standardisation and testing infrastructure of global acceptance, he said.
Raw agro-products worth $181 million were exported in FY '18 with 43 per cent of vegetables.