Prevent sale of yarns, fabrics imported under false declaration: Textile mill owners

Textile mills owners have written to the Customs Bond Commissionerate seeking its support alleging that yarn, fabric and dress materials imported under false declaration are selling in local markets through bond abuse, plummeting the demand for local products.

"The textile sector is in turmoil due to the abnormal increase in the price of fuel oil and the acute dollar crisis. Mills are not able to utilise more than 30% to maximum 50% of their production capacity due to severe gas shortage. The situation has further worsened due to selling yarn, cloth and dress materials - which were imported in various methods - unethically in the local market," reads a letter signed by Mohammad Ali Khokon, president of Bangladesh Textile Mills Association (BTMA).

Given this situation, BTMA has sought the intervention of the Customs Bond Commissionerate under the National Board of Revenue (NBR) to prevent the sale of textile products imported under false declaration and bond.

Khorshed Alam, chairman of Little Star Spinning Mills Ltd in Savar, told The Business Standard, "A portion of the yarn or fabric brought under bond, which was subjected to import, is being sold in the market. On one hand, the government is losing revenue. On the other hand, local industries cannot sell yarn."

People related to the textile sector said that on an average, high-value yarns worth Tk50 crore from around 280 local mills each, totalling around Tk1,400 crore, are left unsold.