Businessmen urge govt to curb misuse of bonded warehouse facility

Businessmen have urged the government to take measures for preventing the misuse of bonded warehouse facility, to mitigate negative impact on government revenue realisation and uneven competition for local industries.

They made the request at the inauguration ceremony of an exhibition of garments and textile technology and raw materials at the International Convention City, Bashundhara in Dhaka on Wednesday.

Commerce Minister Tipu Munshi was the chief guest at the opening ceremony of the four-day long "5th BIGTEX - Bangladesh International Garment & Textile Industry Exposition," which will continue till November 10.

HM Imran, president of Bangladesh Sign Materials and Machineries Importers Association, said the local industries are facing very difficult time as some dishonest businessmen are misusing the bonded warehouse facility.

"We are paying 92 percent duty including the supplementary duty on importing PVC [polyvinyl chloride], which doubles our cost of import," said Imran.

Zafar Ahmed, president of Bangladesh Digital Printers Owners Association, alleged that a number of garment factory owners are importing PVC materials using bonded warehouse facility and selling those in the open market. 

"This creates unequal competition for local entrepreneurs," he added.

The suffering businessmen urged the government to curb this malpractice. 

At the programme, Commerce Minister Tipu Munshi asked local entrepreneurs to come to his office to discuss the matter. 

The commerce minister said, the apparel makers are facing negative growth in export for the last three months. The government is trying to help them overcome this challenge.

RedCarpet365 Limited organised the exhibition, while Bangladesh Knitwear Manufacturers and Exporters Association was the associate partner and the Well Group was the co-partner.

While speaking at the opening ceremony, Abdul Kader Khan, president of Bangladesh Garments Accessories and Packaging Manufacturers and Exporters Association, demanded cash incentives on accessories exports – similar to the ones given to apparel exporters.

Bangladesh Garments Manufacturers and Exporters Association former senior vice president Faruque Hassan said that the government should provide 5 to 10 percent cash incentive against the apparel of manmade fiber to diversify export items.

Mohammad Hatem, first vice-president of Bangladesh Knitwear Manufacturers and Exporters Association said apparel exporters face many difficulties in receiving cash incentives against their export.

Speaking at the event, Well Group Chairman Sayed Nurul Islam said the exhibition is bringing the latest machineries, technologies, dyes, chemicals, yarns, and fabric to the Bangladeshi entrepreneurs' doorsteps.

At the exhibition, 160 stalls from 14 countries are displaying their machineries and raw materials used in the garments and textile industries.

The exhibition is supported by the Printing and Printing Equipment Industries Association of China and China Screen Printing and Graphic Imaging Association, and endorsed by the Bangladesh Sign Materials and

Machineries Importers Association and the Bangladesh Digital Printers Owners Association. 

The exhibition will be open to visitors from 10:30am to 7:30pm every day.