The country’s frozen foods exporters have incurred losses of over Tk180 crore during October-December, as they failed to ship products because of political turbulence.
“We had to bear losses of Tk180 crore as the exporters failed to ship shrimps in due time because of political deadlock, while bank interest escalated the amount of losses,” said Amin Ullah, president of Bangladesh Frozen Foods Exporters Association (BFFEA) at a press conferee in the city yesterday.
Over 10,000 tonnes of frozen shrimps and fishes worth Tk1,000 crore had been stored in warehouses, as the exporters could not ship their processed frozen foods because of political unrest, said Amin.
Being unable to ship to buyers before Christmas Day, exporters were now being forced to sell shrimps at lower prices, with prices decreasing by at least one dollar, he added.
The political turbulence was also preventing shrimp farmers from reaching the processors, during the peak season of farming, Amin also said.
Golam Mostafa, former president of the BFFEA, expressed concerns about facing bigger problems in the future, as continuation of the political deadlock might prompt buyers to lower prices.
The association demanded interest waiver of loans from October 2013 to March next year, provided to exporters by state owned and private commercial banks.
It urged the government to reinstate 10% cash incentive for white fish exporters and to increase cash incentive to 15% from the existing 10% for the exporters of frozen shrimps and demanded reduction of source tax to 0.25% from 0.80%.
The exporters demanded to set repayment date of term loan to January 2017 and to keep them free from being termed defaulters.
Urging the government to lift ban on exporting hilsa fish, the association said it would not cast impact on local market supply as only 6,000 tonnes of hilsa was exported out of 3.5 lakh tonnes of production.
Replying to a query, Amin said the export value increased as the prices of shrimps increased by 70% to 75%, but the volume did not enhance.
According the latest data of Export Promotion Bureau (EPB), Bangladesh fetched exports of $325m in July-November period, while it earned $544m in last fiscal year.
Earlier, the BFFEA placed its demands to the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Fisheries and Livestock, seeking financial support to minimise their losses.
Kazi Belayet, senior vice president of BFFEA, and Vice President M Khalillullah were present among others.
Source: Dhaka Tribune
