Clouds Clear Over Jute Goods Exports to India .

The stalemate over exports of jute goods worth Tk 300 crore to India ended after New Delhi reversed a decision to impose 14 percent counter-veiling duty and additional counter duty on Bangladesh's jute products.

The revenue department under the Ministry of Finance of India in a notification on Monday cancelled its decision to enforce duties on jute goods entering the country from Bangladesh citing public interest, the commerce ministry said yesterday.

Officials in Dhaka said the decision has cleared the impasse in export of jute goods worth Tk 300 crore.

On January 18, the Indian government imposed the above duties on consignments of jute goods, which had been enjoying duty exemption since 2004.

Officials said the decision to impose duties anew prompted protests from the commerce ministry. "The issue was discussed in several meetings at the ministry. The ministry also protested the move in writing," the ministry said in a statement.

Nearly 300 trucks carrying Bangladeshi jute goods such as bags, carpeting cloth bags and hessian to India had to come back from Benapole after the Indian customs authorities refused them entry into India without paying the newly imposed duties.

Exporters said the duties had made Bangladeshi jute goods, which has seen a revival recently thanks to the rising global demand for the natural fibre, uncompetitive.

Indian traders had also termed the sudden imposition of duties on imported jute goods unfair. The Indian laws do not permit such imposition, they said.

Exporters said they would be relieved by the decision, as goods worth hundreds of crore were at stake.

"We stockpiled goods against the orders we had received from Indian importers. We were under huge pressure as shipments were returned," A Barik Khan, secretary of Bangladesh Jute Mills Association told The Daily Star.

He said Indian importers had informed them that they would not be able to accept the products paying high duties imposed all on a sudden.

Khan said the country's jute goods producers would have faced serious problems if the issue were not settled. “Huge quantities of jute goods would have been lying unsold in the mills, meaning we wouldn't be able to pay wages to the workers and repay bank loans. It might create unrest inside and outside the jute mills,” he said.

Bangladesh is a major supplier of jute fibre and jute goods to India, the world's largest jute producer as well as consumer.

Source : thedailystar.net