Staff Reporter :
Terming the India’s decision of imposing anti-dumping duty on Bangladeshi jute products as ‘improper’ speakers at a seminar asked the Indian government to suspend the decision until an acceptable formula is discovered.
The speakers said it at a seminar organized by Dhaka Chambers of Commerce and Industry (DCCI) titled “Anti-dumping duty on imports of jute products from Bangladesh by India: Challanges and potential way out”, in a city hotel in the capital on Tuesday evening.
Commerce Minister Tofail Ahmed, MP, was present as the chief guest while State Minister for Textiles & Jute Mirza Azam, MP, was present as special guest.
A delegation from the Jute Products Importers Association (JPIA) of India led by its President Sandeep Saraff was present in the seminar.
President of International Chamber of Commerce, Bangladesh Mahbubur Rahman chaired the seminar where DCCI president Hossain Khaled presented the keynote.
An anti-dumping duty is a protectionist tariff that a government imposes on foreign imports it believes that the prices are below the market value. Dumping is a process where a company exports a product at a price lower than the price it normally charges on its own home market.
Recently, the Directorate General of Anti-Dumping and Allied Duties (DGAD) under India’s commerce ministry has proposed 25-30 per cent duty on the jute imported from Bangladesh and Nepal based on an investigation report.
Denying the Indian investigation outcome, Hossain Khaled, president of DCCI, said there is no clear finding of report. “There is no injury to Indian jute industry. They are not suffering losses, nor their production is falling due to import of jute goods from Bangladesh,” Khaled said.
The DCCI president said, Bangladesh’s jute comprised only 10 per cent of India’s jute market and the Indian investigation found none of the jute mills in India were shut down due to jute import from Bangladesh, rather for exogenous economic factors.
“Owing to global precarious economic situation many jute mills in Bangladesh also incurred losses in 2014-15.”
He said that the proposed anti-dumping duty up to 30 per cent on Bangladesh will challenge the sustainability of about $170 million of export of jute goods.
“Half a million of job including growers will be at stake and almost $1 billion jute export market will be destabilised.”
Hossain Khaled also said due to supply shortage, Indian consumers will have to pay higher price for jute products which will discourage jute consumption and shrink the market of eco-friendly jute products.
Speaking on the occasion as chief guest, Commerce Minister Tofail Ahmed said “Although India has been offering us duty-free and quota-free market access for all products excluding tobacco and arms to help narrow the trade gap between the two nations, we still cannot utilise this opportunity due to the barriers like countervailing and anti-dumping duty,” Tofail said.
Unfortunately, the imposition of anti-dumping duty will negatively impact the long standing and deepening bilateral diplomatic relation between Bangladesh and India, he said.
Jute goods is a highly potential export item for Bangladesh and the government has been offering cash incentives to boost the exports in this sector.
“Jute goods is one of the seven priority export items for Bangladesh, and the slapping of the anti-dumping duty by India on Bangladesh jute goods is really unexpected,” the minister said.
“We hope that India will not take any such step that hurts Bangladesh’s exports,” Tofail added.
State Minister for Textiles & Jute Mirza Azam, MP, terming the imposition of anti-dumping duty on our jute export to India is surprising and unexpected also.
There is no reason of imposing such anti-dumping duty on our jute export, he added.
Emphasizing the alternative export destination, the state minister said that jute is declared as agro products now and government will consider giving special incentive to the producers of jute goods to export.
Terming the India’s decision of imposing anti-dumping duty on Bangladeshi jute products as ‘improper’ speakers at a seminar asked the Indian government to suspend the decision until an acceptable formula is discovered.
The speakers said it at a seminar organized by Dhaka Chambers of Commerce and Industry (DCCI) titled “Anti-dumping duty on imports of jute products from Bangladesh by India: Challanges and potential way out”, in a city hotel in the capital on Tuesday evening.
Commerce Minister Tofail Ahmed, MP, was present as the chief guest while State Minister for Textiles & Jute Mirza Azam, MP, was present as special guest.
A delegation from the Jute Products Importers Association (JPIA) of India led by its President Sandeep Saraff was present in the seminar.
President of International Chamber of Commerce, Bangladesh Mahbubur Rahman chaired the seminar where DCCI president Hossain Khaled presented the keynote.
An anti-dumping duty is a protectionist tariff that a government imposes on foreign imports it believes that the prices are below the market value. Dumping is a process where a company exports a product at a price lower than the price it normally charges on its own home market.
Recently, the Directorate General of Anti-Dumping and Allied Duties (DGAD) under India’s commerce ministry has proposed 25-30 per cent duty on the jute imported from Bangladesh and Nepal based on an investigation report.
Denying the Indian investigation outcome, Hossain Khaled, president of DCCI, said there is no clear finding of report. “There is no injury to Indian jute industry. They are not suffering losses, nor their production is falling due to import of jute goods from Bangladesh,” Khaled said.
The DCCI president said, Bangladesh’s jute comprised only 10 per cent of India’s jute market and the Indian investigation found none of the jute mills in India were shut down due to jute import from Bangladesh, rather for exogenous economic factors.
“Owing to global precarious economic situation many jute mills in Bangladesh also incurred losses in 2014-15.”
He said that the proposed anti-dumping duty up to 30 per cent on Bangladesh will challenge the sustainability of about $170 million of export of jute goods.
“Half a million of job including growers will be at stake and almost $1 billion jute export market will be destabilised.”
Hossain Khaled also said due to supply shortage, Indian consumers will have to pay higher price for jute products which will discourage jute consumption and shrink the market of eco-friendly jute products.
Speaking on the occasion as chief guest, Commerce Minister Tofail Ahmed said “Although India has been offering us duty-free and quota-free market access for all products excluding tobacco and arms to help narrow the trade gap between the two nations, we still cannot utilise this opportunity due to the barriers like countervailing and anti-dumping duty,” Tofail said.
Unfortunately, the imposition of anti-dumping duty will negatively impact the long standing and deepening bilateral diplomatic relation between Bangladesh and India, he said.
Jute goods is a highly potential export item for Bangladesh and the government has been offering cash incentives to boost the exports in this sector.
“Jute goods is one of the seven priority export items for Bangladesh, and the slapping of the anti-dumping duty by India on Bangladesh jute goods is really unexpected,” the minister said.
“We hope that India will not take any such step that hurts Bangladesh’s exports,” Tofail added.
State Minister for Textiles & Jute Mirza Azam, MP, terming the imposition of anti-dumping duty on our jute export to India is surprising and unexpected also.
There is no reason of imposing such anti-dumping duty on our jute export, he added.
Emphasizing the alternative export destination, the state minister said that jute is declared as agro products now and government will consider giving special incentive to the producers of jute goods to export.
