Staff Reporter :
The government on Wednesday approved export of 500 tonnes of hilsa to India as a gesture of goodwill from Bangladesh on the occasion of Durga Puja.
The Ministry of Commerce gave the approval following the request of an exporter, officials said.
Prior to the approval, hilsa export to India was banned.
“India is a friendly neighbour of Bangladesh and we have a long history of friendship since the Liberation War. As Durga puja comes near, Bangladesh has decided to send 500 tons of hilsa to India as a goodwill gesture,” Commerce Secretary Dr Jafar Uddin told The New Nation.
He, however, said that hilsa would be exported to India through a one-time arrangement.
“The price of the silver fishes, which are being sent, will be determined by an agreement between the buyers and sellers,” said Dr Jafar Uddin.
In the 2011-2012 fiscal, hilsa export to India fetched Bangladesh Tk 3 billion.
But on Aug 1, 2012, the government banned the export of hilsa and other species of fish following local business leaders’ call to control fish prices. The ban on all fish except hilsa was lifted on Sept 23 of that year.
During her visit in 2015, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee urged Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to lift the ban, but Hasina replied India should ensure fair share of the Teesta river water by striking a deal first if they wanted hilsa.
In January last year, the then fisheries and livestock minister Narayon Chandra Chanda Chanda said the government would lift the ban on hilsa export to ‘stop smuggling’.
Though the ban is in effect, hilsa fish were being smuggled out of the country, leading to a huge loss in taxes, he had said.
Large hilsa fish are smuggled out of the country and are thus rarely available in the domestic market, he had argued.
Hilsa fish make up nearly 11 percent of fish produced in Bangladesh. The fish also contributes 1 percent to the country’s GDP.
Nearly 75 percent of world hilsa production occurs in Bangladesh. The fish provides direct and indirect employment to 2 million people.
The patent, design and trademark department named hilsa fish a ‘geographical indication product’ in 2017.
Hilsa production in Bangladesh has doubled in a decade, thanks to the government’s efforts, including its ban on catching brood fish, and fries.
According to government data, production of the silver fish stood at 517,000 tons in 2017-18, up from 279,189 tons in 2006-07. In 2014-2015 the production was 387,211 tons.
