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BKMEA asks govt to allow yarn import thru' Benapole

STAR BUSINESS REPORT
Knitwear manufacturers have again urged the government to allow yarn import through Benapole land port which they said will help cut their production cost and thus give them a competitive edge in the quota-free market.
At a meeting with Textile and Jute Minister Shajahan Siraj on Tuesday, they said the land port at the Indian border should be kept open for import of yarn only for using in the processing of export-oriented knitwear products.
As the knitwear exporters are losing competitiveness for high price of yarn, they wanted assurance from the government to get yarn at international market price.
"This is necessary for cutting production costs as well as the lead
time for export," Fazlul Hoque, president of Bangladesh Knitwear Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BKMEA), said during the meeting with the minister.
"We have to purchase yarn at a price 20 percent higher than that in India," Hoque said. "For this, we will not be able to compete in the international market after this year," he said referring to the tough competition ahead in the quota-free regime.
The BKMEA president apprehended that the knitwear exporters may lose international buyers gradually if the problems are not solved immediately.
Average price of a kg of yarn in Bangladesh is now US$ 2.80 while it is $2.30 in India. But the Indian exporters can buy it at a subsidised price of $ 2.10. The production cost of a T-shirt in Bangladesh is 20
percent higher than that of India.
The country's spinning millers however argue that yarn import through land port will wreck local spinning industry and encourage illegal import of yarn for which the government had to ban its import through Benalpole land port.
Refuting the argument the BKMEA president said most of the yarn smuggling cases were detected at Burimari land port, not at Benapole.
The BKMEA also welcomed the National Co-ordination Council's (NCC) recommendation for setting up central bonded warehouse, a long-drawn demand of apparel exporters, and urged the government to implement the suggestion.
The minister said the national economy will be badly affected if the apparel industry continues to suffer
problems. So it is necessary to take a decision immediately by protecting the interest of both knitwear manufacturers and textile millers.
Habibur Rahman, first vicepresident of BKMEA, Abu Ahmed Siddiqi, second vice-president, Abdur Rashed, third vice-president, and Abdur Rahman, vice-president (finance), were present at the meeting.
The knitwear sector in the first ten months of the last financial year fetched $1669.10 million. In FY 2002-2003, the sector earned $1653.83 million from export, which is 25.25 percent of the country's total export.