Commerce Minister Tofail Ahmed yesterday said India’s duty-free market access does not benefit Bangladeshi exporters due to the imposition of its 12% countervailing duty on the import from Bangladesh.
The minister came up with the remark at “Bangladesh India Cotton Fest 2016” held at Raddission Blu Hotel in the capital yesterday.
Bangladesh Cotton Association (BCA) and the Indian Cotton Association Limited (ICAL) in cooperation with the Federation of Bangladesh Chamber of Commerce and Industry (FBCCI) and the India-Bangladesh Chamber of Commerce and Industry (IBCCI) hosted the cotton fest.
“India has awarded Bangladesh duty- and quota-free access of all products except alcohol and tobacco to its market, but the question appears as to why we cannot avail the opportunity,” said Tofail.
The exporters are not getting benefits of 100% duty-free access to Indian markets due to some tariff and non-tariff barriers, Tofail said, adding that negotiation is on to address the issue.
According to BTMA, there are 400 cotton mills in the country, which consumed 6.1 million bale cotton worth about $2.2 billion in 2015. BTMA mills can produce 2,250 million kgs of yarn over 11 million spindles.
Last year, Bangladesh imported 49% or 2.99 million million bale cotton from India to meet its demand.
Bangladesh is entirely dependent on the import of cotton from India to meet its demand.
“Our challenges are the procurement of cotton at a competitive price,” said BCA president Badsha Mia.
The cotton import from India is on the rise and the neighbouring country has been able to expand its market base in Bangladesh due to easy availability of cotton, variety of its quality and easy communication facility, said Badsha.
Moreover, the frequent visits by business people from both countries have created a friendly atmosphere, he added.
“India is the largest supplier of cotton and cotton yarn to Bangladesh. Cotton, cotton yarn and cotton fabric are the single largest commodity export from India, which accounted for about 22.5% of India’s total exports to Bangladesh,” said the Indian High Commissioner in Bangladesh, Harsh Vardhan Shringla.
Talking on the trade deficit, Tofail Ahmed said there are some people who say that the trade volume between India and Bangladesh is in India’s favour, but it does not matter because “we have to import to meet our needs”.
According to Bangladesh Bank data, Bangladesh imported products worth $5.82 billion from India in the last fiscal year while its export was only $527 million.
BTMA President Tapan Choudhury, Vice-President Md Fazlul Hoque and Indian Cotton Association Limited President Mahesh Sharda also spoke at the event.