Customs Bond Commissionerate (CBC) in Dhaka said two export-oriented apparel companies had evaded duty of around Tk12 crore misusing the duty-free bonded warehouse facility. During spot inspections recently, officials found the KC Apparels Limited and M/S Knit Concern Limited, sister concerns of a same business group, storing much higher amounts of raw materials in the bonded warehouses than that registered. The companies are fully export-oriented composite knit industry located at Godanail Road in Narayanganj. The raw materials were imported under the duty-free benefits by the export-oriented factories for the use in their manufacturing only. But they allegedly sell the extra raw materials to local market. The bonded warehouse is place or area where dutiable goods may be stored, manipulated, or undergo manufacturing operations without payment of duty. According to a report by four-member CBC inspection team, KC Apparels stored 985,920 kg of cotton yarn imported misusing the bonded warehouse facility. The original value of the material is Tk19.76 crore while its taxable value is Tk20.16 crore with the company evading Tk7.47 crore tax. As per the another inspection report prepared on the same factory, 374,871.40 kg chemical and 13,990 kg dyes were found higher in its warehouse and 360,971.25 kg of salt was found less compared to the register. The price of the raw materials is Tk12.32 crore, where the taxable value of the product amounts to Tk12.57 crore. The inspection found that the company evaded Tk3.93 crore. Same situation was in the Knit Concern Ltd. According to the inspection report, the company stored 25,849 kg chemical and 15,125 kg dyes additionally, while 98,150 kg of salt was not found stored. The total value of the raw materials is Tk1.87 crore, but the sum will increase to Tk1.90 crore if duties are imposed. As per the CBC report, the Knit Concern Limited evaded Tk59.84 lakh. The taxmen can now confiscate the goods and the people behind the irregularity can now be liable to a penalty not exceeding (five times) the value of the goods, according to the sections of Customs Act, 1969. The section also empowers the taxmen to punish the guilty of rigorous imprisonment for a term not less than three months but not exceeding two years. CBC officials said that a group of corrupt businessmen made huge amounts of money after availing bonded warehouse facility, a duty-waiver benefit on import of raw materials only for the export-oriented industries. Currently, export-oriented factories can avail the duty-free facility on import of raw materials on condition of export of the finished products manufactured with the inputs. The core condition for availing this facility is that the exporters cannot sell the finished products produced with duty-free imported raw materials on the local market. CBC sources said that some 6,197 export-oriented factories are now availing bonded warehouse licences, among which, 3,909 are active importers and exporters. Among them, 80% of the factories are from the RMG sector. A section of businessmen are abusing the facility and selling the raw materials in local market violating the conditions, a high official said. He said the benefit is mostly abused by the RMG factories. The official said the CBC has to work with the limited manpower and so it cannot monitor perfectly.

The country’s export earnings rose by nearly 3% riding on the RMG sector in the first nine months of the current fiscal year. According to Export Promotion Bureau (EPB) provisional data, in July-March of FY 2014-15, Bangladesh earned $22.9bn by exporting goods which is 2.97% higher compared to the same period last year. RMG sector, the highest export earner, contributes over 81% to the total export earnings, said an EPB official. He also said the growth rate would be higher if there is no political unrest in the country. Political unrest dented the production in the factory besides disrupting supply chain, he added. As per the provisional data, woven sector earned $9.55bn, which was 3.6% higher compared to the same period last year, while Knitwear earned $9.05bn posting 2.7% growth. In March, the export earning rose by over 7%, while in February the single month export growth was 5.15%. “RMG export growth was expected to be 10%, which is necessary to reach the target set for the current fiscal year,” BGMEA Vice-President Shahidullah Azim told the Dhaka Tribune. The slow growth will continue till political stability prevails in the country and if the current situation persists, Bangladesh will not be able to reach the export target of $27bn, said Azim. But it is a good sign for garment sector that the work orders from the global buyers started to grow after a three-month lacklustre trend, he said. Azim added that the impact of political unrest would be reflected in the upcoming month as it takes two to three months to execute an order. He urged the opposition parties not to go for any kind of violent programmes, which would hamper production and supply chain.  Bangladesh has set an export target of $33.2bn for the current fiscal year against the last year export earning of $30.18bn.

Praising Bangladesh’s phenomenal socio-economic progress in last few years, Canadian Foreign official said Bangladesh would be the world’s 23rd largest economy by 2050. Director General of South, Southeast Asia and Oceania Division of the Department of Foreign Affairs Peter MacArthur highlighted Bangladesh’s near two billion dollar bilateral trade with Canada, reports BSS. At a seminar in International Development Research Centre (IDRC) in Ottawa, Canada speakers praised the opportunities of foreign trade and investment in Bangladesh. High Commission for Bangladesh in Canada organised the seminar on Bangladesh: Trade and Investment Opportunities’ recently, according to a release received here. Chaired by Kamrul Ahsan, High Commissioner of Bangladesh to Canada, the seminar was addressed, among others, by Brian Main, President of Haggar Canada Company, Steve Tipman, Executive Director, Trade Facilitation Office (TFO) of Canada, Devinder Shory, Canadian Member of Parliament from the ruling Conservative Party and a member of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on International Trade, Dr Mostafa Abid Khan, Acting CEO of Bangladesh Foreign Trade Institution (BFTI) and Alain Brandon, Senior Director of Loblaws Company, Canada’s largest retailer. First Secretary (Commerce) Dewan Mahmud conducted the seminar, while Counsellor Ishrat Ahmed gave vote of thanks. A large number of representatives from Canadian Government, business community, private sectors, academics, scholars, civil society, NGOs as well as the members of Bangladesh community in Canada attended the seminar. Seven panelists, representing the Canadian Government and Parliament of Canada as well as Canadian corporate sectors and an expert from Bangladesh made their presentations on various aspects of economic miracles that have happened in Bangladesh in the recent time as well as the package of investment opportunities that the country has been offering. Brian Main, President of Haggar, a Canada Company, presented on the experience of doing business in Bangladesh, and applauded Bangladesh’s competitiveness as world’s second largest exporter of apparels.

Praising Bangladesh’s phenomenal socio-economic progress in the last few years, a Canadian Foreign official said Bangladesh would be the world’s 23rd largest economy by 2050. Director general of South, Southeast Asia and Oceania Division of the department of foreign affairs Peter MacArthur highlighted Bangladesh’s near two billion dollar bilateral trade with Canada. At a seminar in International Development Research Centre (IDRC) in Ottawa, Canada speakers praised the opportunities Bangladesh offers in the field of foreign trade and investment. High Commission for Bangladesh in Canada organised the seminar on “Bangladesh: Trade and Investment Opportunities” recently, according to a release received in Dhaka. Chaired by Kamrul Ahsan, high commissioner of Bangladesh to Canada, the seminar was addressed, among others, by Brian Main, president of Haggar Canada company, Steve Tipman, executive director, Trade Facilitation Office (TFO) of Canada, Devinder Shory, Canadian member of parliament from the ruling Conservative Party and a member of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on International Trade, Dr Mostafa Abid Khan, acting CEO of Bangladesh Foreign Trade Institution (BFTI), and Alain Brandon, senior director of Loblaws Company, Canada’s largest retailer. Brian Main, president of Haggar, a Canadian company, said on the experience of doing business in Bangladesh, and applauded Bangladesh’s competitiveness as world’s second largest exporter of apparels. He shared his very positive experience in this regard stating that ‘quality’ is the key component of Bangladesh’s manufacturing of ready-made garments. Steve Tipman, executive director, Trade Facilitation Office (TFO) of Canada, spoke on the institutional support for the promotion of trade between Canada and Bangladesh. Devinder Shory, Canadian member of parliament from the ruling Conservative Party and a member of the parliamentary standing committee on international trade presented on the role of Bangladeshi Canadians in the promotion of trade between the two countries, and focused on Canadian government’s ‘Go Global’ policy. Dr Mostafa Abid Khan, acting CEO of Bangladesh Foreign Trade Institution (BFTI) spoke on investment opportunities in Bangladesh including tax structure and customs duty and Bangladesh government’s various initiatives to promote foreign direct investment. He elaborated on why Bangladesh is the second easiest place for doing business in South Asia. Alain Brandon, senior director of Loblaws company, Canada’s largest retailer, spoke on sourcing from Bangladesh. He reiterated his company’s commitment for increased trade with Bangladesh.

After a three and a half decade of journey, the time has come for the second generation to take over the garment business.A majority of first generation apparel unit owners have already handed over the reins to their sons or daughters, or took them in as partners.Alongside exports, many owners have opened up their own brand stores as Bangladesh is also becoming a potential market with the fast-growing middle-income group.Noir, a fashion brand of export-oriented garment group Evince, also made a foray into retail. With the success of their first branch in Banani in July, owners of Noir have now opened their second store on Satmasjid Road in Dhanmondi on April 3.Brothers Shah Adeeb Chowdhury and Shah Rayeed Chowdhury, directors of Evince Group, operate Noir.“We received a good response with Noir. This is why we opened our second branch within a gap of just ten months. We plan to open two more branches in Dhaka by the end of this year,” Rayeed said in an interview with The Daily Star.Noir sells shirts, punjabis, jeans, chinos, T-shirts, handbags, shoes, belts, ties and bracelets for both men and women. “Our targeted customers are the youth, between 17 and 35 years old,” Rayeed said.Since the growing middle-income group is the target segment, the price range of the items has been fixed between Tk 1,600 and Tk 2,000, he said.On their sales trend, they said it increased during Eid, and they expect a good response for upcoming Pahela Boishakh.Our sales also increased with the onset of winter as we have a good collection of winter clothes,” said Rayeed, who graduated in business management from Pace University in New York.“We have our own design studio for garment product development. Our team of experts develops designs as we know our customers’ choices,” said Adeeb, who graduated in fashion and design from National Institute of Fashion and Technology in New Delhi.The brothers have plans to open Noir shops in Thailand and Malaysia, as they look to expand the brand beyond the national borders.“We have not come out from our main businesses of garment and spinning. We have just opened another venture under the same Evince Group,” Rayeed said. The fabrics used to make the garment items are from their own factories, he added. “We have a lot of scope for business in the domestic market, as people prefer branded goods.”Both the brothers have returned to the country upon graduation to join their family business that is owned by Anwarul-ul-Alam Chowdhury Parvez, former president of Bangladesh Garment Manufac-turers and Exporters Association.

Exports rose 7.43 percent year-on-year to $2.93 billion in March, a development which has brought a ray of sunshine amid the gloomy economic prospects.The figure takes the total export earnings so far in fiscal 2014-15 to $23.24 billion, up 2.98 percent year-on-year, according to data from the central bank.“Our exports could have grown more as we have a lot of work orders from international retailers. But the political unrest has been getting in our way,” said Atiqul Islam, president of Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association.Garment products account for more than 80 percent of the country’s total export basket.The impact of the current stretch of political unrest would manifest in the export earnings three or four months later, as garment makers bagged fewer than normal orders from retailers between January and March.“We were supposed to grow by 14 percent per month, but 7.43 percent growth is not adequate to achieve the target,” Islam said.The garment exporters though did not face any major difficulties in transporting consignments to the Chittagong port, as the Dhaka-Chittagong highway was free from any major untoward incident, he added.The other reason for the uptick in exports is the pick-up in apparel orders from the US in recent months.After the long downward trend, garment exports to the US have started showing positive movement from March.In the January-February period garment exports to the US registered 2.82 percent growth from the previous year to $881 million, according to data from the US Department of Commerce.After the Rana Plaza building collapse in April 2013, garment exports to the US dropped as retailers were waited for signs of progress in workplace safety.But the retailers have been coming back with a handful of orders after the Accord and Alliance in September last year said more than 98 percent of the country’s garment factories are safe, Islam said.Both Accord and Alliance have completed inspections of more than 1,700 factories across the country and are now monitoring the implementation of the corrective action plans suggested by the inspection engineers.

Garment manufacturers seek waiver of all sorts of interest for the next six months on loan amount they had taken from banks for the sake of the industry as what they said it will save them minimally from being classified in face the ongoing political unrest. The apparel makers also want special incentives on export of garment items on the EU countries to compensate their business loss due to fluctuation of Euro and Rubble against US dollar. The stakeholders of the industry are expected to place a bunch of demands to the government during a pre-budget discussion with the National Board of Revenue (NBR) on April 8, 2015. The demands include keeping source tax on FOB unchanged. NBR, like every year is going to hold a series of pre-budget meeting separately with the stakeholders of different sector from today (Wednesday). Shahidullah Azim, Vice-President of the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) while talking to daily sun said that the garment sector has been going through a tough time due to the ongoing political turmoil. Referring recent business data, he said that some 40 factories have suffered losses of Tk 189 crore during the ongoing political turmoil. The government should offer special package for the garment makers to cope up with the losses, he opined. It was learnt that the board of directors of BGMEA ahead of the pre-budget discussion of the NBR will fix the demands. Shahidullah Azim said that they will fix the demands before the discussion with NBR scheduled to be held on April 8 next. The garment makers said they will also demand for not raising source tax on FOB, which is 0.30 percent now. According to information, three-month long blockade and hartal programmes paralyzed the garment sector as well as the country’s economy. As a result, the apparel makers are eagerly waiting to get some facilities from the government to cope up with the losses.

Newly-appointed Paki-stani High Commis-sioner Shuja Alam praised Bangladesh for its remarkable progress in the fields of education, health, women development and micro-credit.
“Bangladesh is seen to have improved in many areas of social indicators beyond the South Asian countries and is worth mentionable even among the Muslim countries,” said the envoy during his meeting with Foreign Minister Abul Hasan Mahmood Ali at his office on Tuesday. The high commissioner also appreciated introduction and expansion of solar energy network in rural Bangladesh. Responding to the Pak envoy’s interest, the foreign minister said solar energy plays a vital role in off-grid electrification and supplying power in rural areas. He told Mr Shuja Alam to send a delegation to gather practical knowledge from Bangladesh’s experience in this sector. The high commissioner also held a meeting with State Minister for Foreign Affairs Shahriar Alam and expressed his country’s interest about Bangladesh ready-made garments and ceramic products. He also stressed the need for exchanging business delegations between the two countries to help strengthen bilateral business ties. Welcoming the new envoy, both Mr Mahmood Ali and Mr Shahriar Alam hoped that relations between the two countries will be strengthened further during the new high commissioner’s tenure in Dhaka. Mr Shuja Alam presented his credentials to President Abdul Hamid at Bangab-haban on March 21.

Primark has completed paying over 95 percent of long-term compensations to 668 Rana Plaza disaster victims, who were workers of New Wave Bottoms, a supplier of the British retailer. The retailer made the payments through Brac Bank and bKash to the family members of the dead and injured workers of New Wave Bottoms, Primark said in a statement yesterday. “There are a very small number of claimants yet to receive compensation because either the individuals require a high level of support and/ or the victims and/or their dependants have only very recently come forward,” Primark said. “This approach to compensation involved medical and vulnerability assessments.” Payments have been made according to the impact of the injury and the level of disability. In the case of the dependents of the deceased and missing workers, it was according to actuarial estimates of lost earnings, Primark said. The process has taken time to complete because the company was determined that its approach to compensation should be as fair, rigorous and as sustainable as possible, according to Primark. “The company is supporting victims, or their dependants, in the handful of cases where final payments remain outstanding.” Primark’s total aid stands at $14 million. The company has additionally made a payment of $1 million to the Rana Plaza Donors Trust Fund, chaired by the International Labour Organisation, for distribution to workers in its competitors’ supply chain, according to the statement. Primark has signed the Accord on Fire and Building Safety in Bangladesh, which is carrying out factory building inspections. It has also carried out building surveys of factories in Bangladesh from which it sources garments. Primark will continue to monitor the welfare of victims with long-term injuries or loss of earnings, in conjunction with local partners that have advised the company on its approach to compensation.

Bangladesh’s apparel sector is set to face yet another challenge as its close competitor Sri Lanka is lobbying for duty benefits from the European Union. The two parties held a meeting in Colombo last week, where they discussed the possibility of revival of the ‘Generalised System of Preferences Plus’ status for Sri Lanka. The island nation lost its GSP Plus status in 2010 after the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) alleged violations of human rights during the civil war. However, given the political commitment by the new Sri Lankan government, the EU decided to consider the case under a special monitoring process. The full application process takes about 10 months. If the status is granted, Sri Lankan exports to the EU will attract lower or no duty. Currently, Sri Lanka is the seventh largest garment exporter in the $450 billion market, with a little more than 1 percent share, according to data from the World Trade Organisation. Bangladesh is the second largest garment exporter after China with a 5 percent market share. The EU is the largest export destination for the country’s garment products, where it has been enjoying duty-free benefits since 1971. In fiscal 2013-14, the country exported more than $14 billion worth of garment items to the EU, according to data from the Export Promotion Bureau. Ahsan H Mansur, executive director of the Policy Research Institute of Bangladesh, said the country has to become more efficient to cope with the impending challenge from Sri Lanka. “Obviously, we will lose competitiveness if Sri Lanka is also granted the GSP plus status to the EU, as both the countries will compete with the same garment products,” said Atiqul Islam, president of Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association. The country’s upper hand in garment trade was already compromised last year when Pakistan was included in the GSP Plus scheme. Bangladesh accounts for around 13 percent of the apparel items that enter the EU, meeting 25 percent of the region’s demand for shirts, T-shirts, sweaters and trousers. In 2014, Sri Lanka’s apparel exports to the EU increased 10.5 percent year-on-year to $2.16 billion. “Sri Lanka should capitalise on its advantage of a well-qualified labour force to move further up the value chain,” according to a study by the Standard Chartered Bank released in January. “The continued provision of unique design services and products, further mechanisation, and effective branding could help it retain market share. Sri Lanka could also benefit by strengthening its position in non-traditional markets like the Middle East, India and China,” the study also said.