BCA wants compulsory membership for cotton agents

The Bangladesh Cotton Association (BCA) is seeking to make it mandatory for all cotton agents to be a member of the association.

The association recently, in a letter to the commerce ministry, sought minister Tipu Munshi’s intervention in this regard.

According to the letter, seen by The Business Post (TBP), cotton agents are engaged in various important work but many of them are not members of the association. These non-members are difficult to find when an accident occurs in the business. As a result, cotton importers and spinning mills face losses.

Speaking about the issue, BCA President Mohammad Ayub said, “Most of the cotton agents are members of BCA with only a few remaining out of it.

“The association has a database for each of its members where all the information of the members is stored. However, the association does not have the necessary information of the organisations which are not its members.

“So, we have sought the minister’s help to make every agent the association’s member.” As every cotton agent is required to obtain registration from the Office of the Chief Controller of Imports and Exports, making membership of BCA mandatory only for cotton agents at the time of registration would help establish accountability, states the letter.

BCA sought the minister’s direction on the matter as per Section 13(a) of Trade Organization Ordinance and Section 7 of Trade Organization Rules, 1994.

Cotton is the main raw material for the country’s gigantic apparel industry. Bangladesh is currently the second biggest importer of cotton in the world. The country produces around 1.76 lakh bales of cotton per year, while the demand is about 85 lakh bales.