Imports of 135 non-essential commodities drop

Business Desk :
Import of 135 products considered non-essential commodities plummeted 52% in volume and 41% in the last nine months following the imposition of prohibitive duties to contain dwindling forex reserves.
Official statistics show government revenue from these imports, categorized as non-essential and less-important at this hour of crisis worldwide, also reduced substantially.
The items include fresh fruits, fresh flowers, cosmetics and furniture which the government deemed less important to import during a dollar crisis.
Until March 29, 2023, the country’s foreign-exchange reserves had declined to $31.05 billion from $33.86 billion on December 1, 2022, according to Bangladesh Bank sources.
To discourage import, the National Board of Revenue (NBR) imposed on May 24, 2022 Regulatory Duty (RD) of up to 20% on those products.
The import volume of those products had declined to 433,331.39 tonnes worth Tk3,400 crore since May 24, 2022 till February 28, 2023, according to customs data.
With the fall in imports the import-tax collection from the products also plummeted from Tk4,233 crore to Tk2,986 crore in the corresponding period.
The country imported some 899,167.92 tonnes of fresh fruits, flowers, cosmetics and furniture, spending Tk5,756 crore from April 21 to May 23, 2022.
However, the import volume of fresh fruits dropped in the last nine months by 50% from 869,784.98 tonnes valued at Tk4,119 crore in the corresponding previous period.
Of the imported fruits, 143,480.57 tonnes of oranges priced Tk754 crore and 121,677.69 tonnes of apples worth Tk618 crore had been imported between May 24, 2022 and February 28, 2023.
A total of 49,882.87 tonnes of fresh grapes were imported at a cost of Tk409 crore.
Some 29,102.63 tonnes of mandarins (including tangerines and satsumas) were imported for Tk115 crore in the last nine months.
Imports of oranges, apples, mandarins and grapes were 1,282.77 tonnes worth Tk971 crore, 1,124.29 tonnes worth Tk871 crore, 173.23 tonnes valued at Tk128 crore and 138,128.13 tonnes worth Tk688 crore respectively.
The government received Tk2,173 crore in import taxes against fresh fruit imports against Tk3,085 crore in the corresponding period, customs data revealed.