Frozen food exporters have demanded for cash incentives and policy supports from the government to recover the losses they incurred in the wake of the political unrest coupled with devaluation of Euros and Ruble.
Bangladesh Frozen Foods Exporters Association (BFFEA) President S M Amzad Hossain came up with the demand through a press conference held at his office in the city yesterday.
Addressing the press conference, Amzad urged the government to provide interest free loans of Tk600 crore through a block account to cover up the losses incurred due to devaluation of Rubles and Euros.
Due to the price fall at the buyers’ end, the sector people had to sell products worth Tk1,500 crore at 40% lower rate, which caused the cash crunch of Tk600 crore, he pointed out.
“That is why, we need the financial support to cover up our financial losses.’’
The sector people also demanded 25% cash incentives instead of existing 10% against export and also urged the government to withdraw the existing ceiling on export in this regard.
They also demanded rescheduling facilities for the frozen food exporters with default loans over Tk500 crore.
The sector people also urged the government to extend the payment tenure of term loans by eight years with a three-month installment facility and to extend payment of classified loan to six month instead of the existing three month.
“We are facing sever crises of raw materials as the supply chain of shrimps has been disrupted due to the ongoing political unrest and the factories are now at the brink of closure due to lack of raw materials,” said Amzad.
Although the production has almost been suspended in most of the factories, the owners have to pay wages of the workers, electricity bills, bank interests and other utility bills, he added.
Due to devaluation of Euros and Ruble against the local currency, prices of frozen shrimps and other fishes declined by about 40%, as a result, the exporters are now counting huge losses as they are to sell their stored fishes at a lower price, Amzad further said.
He also claimed that the price of per pound shrimps came down to US$5.25, which was $9.17 in August last.
Due to the economic recession in the European Union countries, the demand for the luxury food times is also in a declining trend, observed Amzad.
If the ongoing political disturbance continued and processing of frozen foods was hindered, it would cast a negative impact on the price of the shrimp in the next season, he feared.
The press conference was attended, among others, by Md. Golam Mostafa, senior vice president of BFFEA.