Only two major exports, namely apparel and leather and leather goods, performed well in the first half of the current fiscal year as global demand for non-garment items has fallen in the face of high inflation stemming from the Russia-Ukraine war.
Black tiger shrimps, locally known as Bagda, have seen their prices slump, handing losses to thousands of farmers in the southwestern region, the main belt of export-oriented shrimp and prawns in Bangladesh.
Shrimp exports from Bangladesh fell in the first quarter of the current fiscal year due to weak demand in the EU and the US markets, which have been gripped by the fears of a coming recession amid the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war.
Frozen fish exports from Bangladesh rebounded and a hit six-year high in the just concluded fiscal year powered by an increase in the price of black tiger shrimp and freshwater prawn farmed in the Southern coastal region.