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Textbook printers, paper importers, merchants, and press owners yesterday called for cutting the import duty of a number of intermediary products used in the industry from 25 percent to 5 percent to help them keep businesses afloat and restore discipline in the sector.
Six related associations – the Bangladesh Paper Importers Association, the Bangladesh Paper Merchants Association, the Bangladesh Textbook Printing and Marketing Association, the Chittagong Papers and Cellophane Business Group, the Printing Industries Association of Bangladesh, and the Metropolitan Press Owners Association —raised the demand at a joint press conference at the Economic Reporters’ Forum auditorium in Dhaka.
“Because of the higher duty, we are gradually losing our business,” said Md Shafiqul Islam Vorosha, president of the Bangladesh Paper Importers Association.
The local printing, publication and packaging industries import duplex board, art paper, art card, Swedish board, folding box board and self-adhesive paper to make finished products, as they are not produced in Bangladesh.
They are also used in pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, food processing, and electric industries as well as in invitation cards, sweet box, wall calendar, and desk calendar.
Because of the 25 percent import duty, the total tax incidence for the products stands at 60.73 percent, Shahid Serneabat, chairman of the Printing Industries Association of Bangladesh.
“The import duty has been continuing for a long time. Now it is a question of survival for us. Because of the higher duty, there is misuse of paper and boards imported under the bonded warehouse facility,” Vorosha said.
If the import duty is brought down to 5 percent, the overall tax incidence will be 32.40 percent, according to the organisers.
The organisers say they are not against products being imported under the bonded warehouse facility. But the reality is these products are sold in the local market. As a result, the government is losing Tk 2,000 crore in annual revenue.
Because of the higher duty, companies don’t go for the import and instead they rely on the local market.
If import duty is cut to 5 percent, the misuse of the bonded facility will come to an end and the market will stabilise, they said. Every year, about 5 lakh tonnes of paper and paper boards are imported, according to the organisers.
Tofayal Khan, president of the Bangladesh Textbook Printing and Marketing Association, Md Zahurul Islam, general secretary of the Printing Industries Association of Bangladesh, Fazlur Rahman Parbat, president of the Bangladesh Paper Merchants’ Association and Mohammed Belal, general secretary of the Chittagong Papers and Cellophane Business Group, were present.
source(DS)