National Board of Revenue has withdrawn the ban on import of acrylic yarn from Nepal through the Banglabandha land port following a request from the landlocked neighbouring country.Customs wing of NBR on April 7 issued a statutory regulatory order allowing import of the product from Nepal through the land port located at Tetulia in Panchagarh of Bangladesh.NBR made the decision after consultation with stakeholders to facilitate bilateral trade between the two South Asian countries.According to the SRO, importers having bonded warehouse licence will only be allowed to import the product from Nepal through the port.Import under bond licence is duty free but 10 per cent duty is applicable to general imports.Nepal has been seeking withdrawal of the ban since 2017 claiming that the ban was causing financial losses to the Nepalese manufacturers of the product.Earlier, in December last year, NBR decided that customs officials would conduct physical inspection of imported consignments and take steps to conduct laboratory test of the sample of the item to be sure about the quality of yarn (yarn count).Physical inspection and lab test would be carried out to prevent misdeclaration on quality of yarn, it decided.At that time, NBR also decided to lift the ban initially for one year which would be extended later based on the report of a monitoring committee incorporating representatives from Bangladesh Textile Mills Association, Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry and other relevant agencies on yarn import from Nepal.The SRO, however, did not impose any condition including period of withdrawal of the restriction.The ban on import of yarn from India through the route will remain in place.NBR in 2002 imposed the restriction of yarn import through land ports to safeguard the local cotton yarn industry from Indian exports.Later, it withdrew the ban for the Benapole land port but the ban remained in place for the Banglabandha land port.Bilateral trade between Nepal and Bangladesh takes place through Banglabandha and Fulbari (Shiliguri of West Bengal in India) land ports.
