India assures Bangladesh of fixing export quota for food products

India has assured Bangladesh of fixing a minimum export quota for certain quantities of rice, wheat, sugar, onion, ginger, garlic, and lentils before the holy month of Ramadan, said sources from the commerce ministry.

Earlier, Bangladesh proposed to India to fix the minimum export quota for daily commodities to maintain adequate supply to the market during Ramadan.

India gave the assurance during Commerce Minister Tipu Munshi’s recent visit to India, said the sources.

The commerce minister will hold a press conference on his India visit at the conference room of the commerce ministry on Monday, informing the details of the visit.

Tapan Kanti Ghosh, senior secretary of the commerce ministry, said, “Trade between the two countries is going on smoothly. However, sometimes India imposes restrictions on food exports to meet their domestic needs. Our proposal was to relax this restriction in the case of Bangladesh. India will export a certain amount of goods to Bangladesh every year.”

According to the commerce ministry, Bangladesh wants to import nine lakh metric tonnes of rice, 4.5 million metric tonnes of wheat, 1.5 million metric tonnes of sugar, and 7 million metric tonnes of onions.

Bangladesh has also asked India to export 25,000 metric tonnes of ginger, 30,000 metric tonnes of lentils, and 10,000 metric tonnes of garlic.

India sometimes imposes restrictions on food exports to meet their domestic needs, which puts Bangladesh in a difficult situation. In order to resolve the issue, both countries decided to fix export quotas for food products during Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s visit to India last September.

Government officials said the price of food products has skyrocketed due to the war in Ukraine. At the same time, Bangladesh is suffering from a dollar crisis. Due to this dual crisis, traders are also facing problems in opening LCs for importing goods. Meanwhile, Ramadan is also approaching. In this situation, the government has to depend on India for some daily necessities.

Commerce ministry officials say India exports essential goods to its two other neighbors, the Maldives and Bhutan, under an annual quota system. In this manner, the country publishes a gazette mentioning the quantity of food products to be exported to these countries every fiscal year.

As a result, even if India bans the export of any food products, the two countries can import that amount of the products. Through such agreements, Maldives and Bhutan can keep their local markets stable. Now Bangladesh is also seeking such a facility from India.

During the commerce minister’s visit, India said it has started scoping after a joint study of the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA). Through this, India is checking their position, and how much discount it can give on any product.

India has sought the opportunity to export all kinds of products through all the ports of Bangladesh while they are scoping.

Commerce Minister Tipu Munshi returned to Dhaka from New Delhi last Thursday after talks with India on CEPA, agricultural products, and withdrawal of anti-dumping of jute products, said a senior official of the ministry.

He told The Business Post, “India is yet to prepare for the CEPA. They are now doing some internal studies for preparation. This may require a little more discussion, although the joint study has ended.”

He said, “India is now doing internal scoping. We are also working on behalf of Bangladesh. A committee has been formed in this regard, headed by Additional Secretary and FTA Cell chief Noor Md Mahbubul Haque.”

According to a joint survey of the two countries, Bangladesh’s export earnings from India will increase from $3 billion to $5 billion and Indian exports to Bangladesh will increase from $4 billion to $10 billion in the next 7-10 years.

During the commerce minister’s visit, India sought permission to use all Bangladeshi ports for the export of all kinds of products. Delhi has been assured that the matter will be considered from Bangladesh’s side. However, since NBR is involved in the matter, its opinion is needed for this. A decision will be made after discussing this with NBR, said officials concerned.

Apart from this, India also wants to make an agreement with BSTI. India has sent a draft MoU for this. BSTI is yet to respond to the proposal.