BATB wants duty-free cig export to Bhutan
Staff Reporter :
British American Tobacco Bangladesh (BATB) wants to export cigarette to Bhutan under the bilateral preferential trade agreement (PTA) that came into effect on 1 July 2022.
BATB has sent a letter addressed to the Senior Secretary of the Ministry of Commerce, where it sought the Ministry’s action to include cigarettes in the list of products granted duty-free access to Bhutanese market under the PTA.
Bangladesh and Bhutan signed a PTA on 06 December 2020 to lessen existing trade barriers between the two South Asian countries and facilitate an expansion in the volume of bilateral trade.
Anti-tobacco organizations have long been raising demands to reinstate a 25 percent export duty on tobacco.
Qazi Kholiquzzaman Ahmed, eminent economist and convener of the National Anti-Tobacco Platform, had previously expressed concern that a pro-export posture with regard to tobacco industry may encourage tobacco cultivation which has severe consequences in the country’s food security and environment.
On one occasion, National Professor Brigadier General (Retd.) Abdul Malik, founder and president of National Heart Foundation of Bangladesh, had said, “To encourage the people of other countries in consuming our cheap tobacco products is unethical.”
According to research and advocacy organization, PROGGA, tobacco is at the forefront in the scramble for the country’s limited 37.6 million acres of arable land. One acre of such land allotted for tobacco cultivation means one acre less for staple and cash crops. Thus, a spike in tobacco cultivation, caused by a pro-export policy measure, can threaten the country’s food security.
A recent study showed that the net social return from tobacco becomes even negative (minus US$ 916.11 on average for per acre of land).
ABM Zubair, Executive Director of PROGGA, said, “The government is committed to achieving Sustainable Development Goals, implementing Framework Convention on Tobacco Control of WHO and realizing the Prime Minister’s vision of a tobacco-free country by 2040.”
He said, “The inclusion of cigarette in PTA products list would be in grave conflict with aforementioned policy obligations. It is impossible to achieve a tobacco-free country while granting benefits to tobacco companies. If BATB gets such opportunity, it will increase the production of tobacco leaves, threatening food security, public health and environment.”
