Bhutan imposes high duty on Bangladeshi agro-based items Jasim Uddin Fruit juice of different brands are seen at a shop in a city market. The photo was snapped on Tuesday. Bhutan has imposed abnormally high duty on imports of agro-processed products from Bangladesh. — New Age photo Bhutan has imposed abnormally high duty on imports of agro-processed products from Bangladesh ‘violating’ the bilateral trade agreement between the two countries, exporters and commerce ministry officials said. Bangladeshi agro-processed products have been facing severe obstruction to enter into Bhutanese market due to high duty, causing significant loss for Bangladeshi exporters, they said. The products are supposed to get duty-free access to the Bhutanese market under a Bilateral Trade Agreement between the two countries, commerce ministry officials said. The products facing high duty barrier in export to Bhutan are mainly different kinds of juices, energy drinks, chips, dry food such as biscuits and other agro-processed food items, exporters said. ‘The Bhutan government has imposed up to 80 per cent duty including 30 per cent value-added tax on the Bangladeshi agro-processed products,’ said Kamruzzaman Kamal, director of marketing of PRAN-RFL Group. Bangladeshi companies are not able to compete with other countries in exporting those products in the face of such high duty, he said. He said that the PRAN-RFL Group which mainly exports different kinds of fruits juice to Bhutan has been losing around Tk 1.5 crore every month. Commerce ministry officials said that the ministry has already expressed its objection to the decision of the Bhutanese government and requested them to withdraw the imposed duty. According to the schedule B of the bilateral trade agreement, a total of 90 Bangladeshi products are supposed to get duty-free access to the Bhutanese market. The Bhutan government is getting the chance to impose high duty on those products as the country could not issue any gazette notification on schedule B under the agreement. After getting the complaints from the exporters, the ministry sent a letter to Bhutan government through Bangladesh embassy to issue a gazette notification stating about the duty-free access of 90 Bangladeshi products to their market, said a commerce ministry official. Bangladesh embassy informed that the Bhutanese government has agreed to issue the notification, he said. Earlier in April 2012, Bhutan had imposed a ban on import of a number of items including agricultural products from Bangladesh and some other countries except India. Later, the government of Bhutan withdrew the ban but has gradually increased duty which currently stood at 80 per cent. Exporters said that the decision of imposing high duty might have been taken due to the pressure of exporters from some beneficiary countries mainly India to stop exports of Bangladeshi products to Bhutan. Bangladesh Agro-Processors Association general secretary Raju Ahmed told New Age that around 10 companies export agricultural products worth $10-12 lakh every year. However, currently, a total of 18 Bhutanese products including all kinds of fruits, stone, drinks and some other agricultural products are getting duty-free access into Bangladesh. The companies are PRAN-RFL, Square Consumer products Ltd, Akij Group, Abul Khair Group, ACME, ACI, Bombey Sweets, RMP Manufacturers Ltd and Prome Agro-Foods Ltd, Raju said. According to Export Promotion Bureau, Bangladesh’s export earnings from Bhutan was $ 91,31,362 lakh in 2011-2012 fiscal year. The major export items from Bangladesh to Bhutan include ready-made garments, pharmaceuticals, melamine, toilet soap, dry food, fruit juice, energy drinks and mineral water.
Posted on: Tue, 11 Jun 2013 09:22:20 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015