Two trucks, loaded with readymade garment (RMG) products, set to be exported to India, from Dhaka’s Mousumi Garments’ and Square Fashion reached Benapole Land Port in Jashore on Sunday morning. But no such trucks carrying RMG products were allowed to enter India through the land port due to the neighbouring country’s restrictions on the import of such products from Bangladesh Saturday night.
As many as 36 trucks, loaded with readymade apparel products to be exported to India from several Bangladeshi export-oriented factories, are now waiting at Benapole land port. There have been apprehensions over the future of those products as well.
Some of the factories, however, have taken initiatives to export those products through the Chittagong seaport.
Exporters said the export-oriented garment factories will face losses due to this new directive from India. Compared to the Benapole land port, Sending goods to India via the Chittagong seaport will cost twice.
At the same time, it will take longer periods for the goods to reach their destination, which will lead to a decline in purchase orders, they feared.
Meanwhile, the officers and employees of Benapole Customs House observed a pen-down strike from 9:00 am to 3:00 pm today. As a result, no new shipment files were signed in that period. Besides this, the Indian government last night imposed a ban on the import of RMG products via land routes.
Jahangir Alam, owner of Dhaka-based garment export company JK Enterprise, told Prothom Alo, “Sending a truck of RMG products to Kolkata through the Benapole land port costs around Tk 600,000, including customs clearance, GST, truck rent, and C&F agent charges. The shipment reaches its destination within a maximum of three days. In contrast, sending the same truckload via Chittagong seaport to Kolkata costs about Tk 1.2 million (12 lakhs) and takes 20 to 25 days. This will hit small entrepreneurs hard.”
Before the ban was announced, several trucks loaded with goods had already departed from Dhaka and various other parts of the country for Benapole port. Those trucks arrived in the morning.
Despite attempts by exporters and clearing and forwarding (C&F) agents to contact Indian officials at the Petrapole port, they could not send the goods to India.
When asked about this, Benapole Customs House additional commissioner Sharif Hasan said, “In light of the letter from India, trucks carrying ready-made garments are not permitted to enter through the land port. As of 1:00 pm, 36 trucks loaded with garment products were waiting at Benapole port to enter India.”
According to a statement issued by India’s commerce and industry ministry on Saturday, Indian importers can now only import RMG goods from Bangladesh via its Nhava Sheva and Kolkata seaports.
It further said, from now on, Bangladesh cannot export fruits, fruit-flavoured drinks, soft drinks, processed foods, plastic goods, yarn, yarn byproducts, and furniture via land customs stations (LCS) or integrated check-posts (ICP) into the Indian states of Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura, and Mizoram.
This restriction will also apply to Changrabandha and Fulbari LCS in West Bengal, the statement added.
C&F agency Sohan Trade Center’s owner Ahsan Habib said, “Due to this Indian ban, Bangladesh’s ready-made garment sector will be under serious threat. Employees working with C&F agents in Benapole may lose their jobs.”
People involved with the garment export sector said that every day, 20 to 25 trucks carrying low-cost garments used to be sent to India through Benapole land port. This restriction of India will affect Bangladesh’s export sector.
The country exported goods worth nearly US $1.57 billion (157 crore) to India in the 2023–24 fiscal year, with garments and processed foods making up the bulk of the exports. Besides this, several companies exported plastic products and furniture.