Home ›› 25 May 2022 ›› Front
Bangladesh imported fruits worth around Tk 2,800 crore in the FY 2020-21 to meet the growing demand of foreign fruits in almost all walks of life. During the period, 701,570 metric tonnes of fruits were imported.
Besides, a significant amount of foreign exchange was spent on imports of flowers, cosmetics, and furniture, according to the National Board of Revenue (NBR) data.
Soaring import spending has recently put pressure on the country’s depleting foreign exchange reserves. To counter the downward trend of forex reserve and ward off volatility in the foreign exchange market, the revenue board on Monday imposed a 20 per cent regulatory duty on the imports of each of the four products.
Besides, another 5 per cent regulatory duty was imposed on onion import.
Senior NBR officials believe the latest initiative would also help expand the domestic industry, besides tackling the volatile forex market.
NBR Member (Customs Policy) Md Masud Sadiq said: “Regulatory tariffs on these four products were imposed in order to increase the country’s production of fruits and flowers and to protect the local industry’s production of cosmetics and furniture.
“As such, the government has taken this step to save foreign reserves as a significant amount of foreign currencyis being spent on importing these luxury items. Under a total of 135 HS codes, the RD will be imposed on these four items,” he added.
Out of all the categories that have now been subjected to the new regulatory duty, the majority of imports come from the fruit category, which earned the government Tk 2,500 crore in tax revenue last fiscal year, Masud elaborated.
The NRB official went on to say that this revenue will increase even more in the coming fiscal year as a result of the newly imposed duty.
The total tax incidence on fruit imports was 89 per cent in the previous fiscal year, with the RD at 3%, according to the NBR.
Furthermore, the imports from each category of flowers, cosmetics, and furniture generated revenue of between Tk 50 and Tk 100 crores in the previous fiscal year, NBR sources said.
Bangladesh has a thriving flower and fruit farming industry. By imposing the new tariffs, local flower and fruit growers will receive a fair price and will be encouraged to expand cultivation. This will benefit the country’s marginal farmers and reduce reliance on imports, industry people said.
Similarly, the furniture and cosmetics produced in the country are of good quality and can meet domestic demand. The imposition of regulatory tariffs on furniture and cosmetics will help to develop the domestic industry by allowing it to compete with foreign goods.
Around 94 per cent of the total imported fruits come from China, India, South Africa, Egypt, Bhutan and Brazil. Moreover, Bangladesh imports fruits from USA, Australia, New Zealand, Afghanistan and other countries on a limited scale, according to Bangladesh Bank.
The total size of the country’s fruit market has been estimated at Tk 10,000 crore, according to the fruit traders. The retail market size of fruits has been valued at Tk 5,000 crore, they said.
The fruit import from foreign countries has been increasing 6 per cent on an average in the last five years, according to the National Board of Revenue and Department of Agriculture Extension.
After analysing the fruit import figure, the country’s people have fruits weighing 16.88 lakh kg on average. More or less, fruits worth Tk 27 crore are sold in the retail market. From September to January, foreign fruits dominate the local market. Yet, foreign fruits are available both in the city and village markets during the period.
Of the foreign fruits, apple weighing 2 lakh tonnes was mostly imported in FY21. It was followed by orange (2.79 lakh tonnes), and grapes (1 lakh tonnes).
At present, 10 to 12 varieties of fruits are grown in the country. Of them, the cultivation of orange, malta, dragon, and pomegranate increases in the country every year. Dragon, guava, jackfruit, mango and some other local fruits are exported.
Bangladesh is the world’s third-largest apple imported country and the sixth-largest malta imported country, according to the US Department of Agriculture.
