Mohammad Suman

Chattogram Custom House has started disposing of 298 containers filled with perishable goods that were left abandoned by importers at the country’s premier seaport for years.

Chattogram Customs House will auction off around 1,050 tonnes of abandoned goods worth Tk 45 crore on Sunday. It will get rid of around 50 lots of goods, including 180 pieces of CNG-run auto-rickshaws, 150 tonnes of garment fabrics, 300 tonnes of steel items, and 130 tonnes of chemicals.

Retailers and wholesalers in Chattogram market are continuing to charge Tk 3 to Tk 4 higher than the Tk 115 fixed by the government as the retail price of each litre of loose soybean oil four days ago.

Prices of many essential commodities, such as edible oil, chickpeas and sugar, have gone up at both retail and wholesale markets across Chattogram despite a rise in imports in the past three months.

In line with the growing market trend of brand new cars, PHP Automobiles, one of the country’s leading car makers, plans to increase its assembling capacity as well as locally manufacturing a majority of the components.

Bearing telltale signs of an illegal courier service, some 70 tonnes of personal goods and contraband items were seized by Chattogram Customs House on Sunday for being imported under a false declaration of being factory machinery, apparently to evade duty.

In the wake of the coronavirus outbreak, four expatriates returned from Saudi Arabia by air on November 29 last year.

The Chattogram City Corporation polls yesterday were marred by violence and the capture of scores of polling centres by Awami League men amid a low turnout of voters.

The Bangladesh Trade and Tariff Commission (BTTC) has recommended setting the maximum retail price of soybean oil at Tk 124 a litre to tame its spiralling rates in the local market.

Wheat imports declined 2 per cent or 72,000 tonnes in the first six months of fiscal 2020-21 compared to the corresponding months of the previous year as prices rose amid a shortage of supply in the international market.

Some 27,000 tonnes of onion worth Tk 102 crore have apparently been abandoned at the Chattogram port by importers, as their market price expectations were decimated by an influx of the Indian variety and local harvests.

Several business leaders and entrepreneurs have expressed their hope that Bangladesh’s economy will start to recover from mid-2021 after the Covid-19 vaccine arrives.

Local consumers now have to spend more on edible oil as prices are rising in the international market almost every week due to decreased production in exporting countries, weakening of supply chain and stockpiling amid the pandemic.

Bangla Food and Beverage Ltd tried to export one tonne of foods in place of 22 tonnes declared to claim higher cash incentives from the government against foreign sales, said the Chattogram Customs House.

State-run Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation’s net profit dropped 14.21 per cent in the last fiscal year because of a decline in fuel sales amid the pandemic-induced demand collapse.

The Chattogram Custom House continues to operate with around half of the authorised posts being vacant, hampering its supervision on tax evasion and monitoring of import-export goods.

Chattogram Maa O Shishu Hospital is planning to extend its services for residents of the port city, with a full-fledged 100-bed cancer hospital and research institute.

A tripartite agreement between two local trade bodies and the Japan External Trade Organisation (Jetro) was signed yesterday to strengthen private sector engagement in trade and investment between Japan and Bangladesh.

MS Selim Machinery, a Jashore-based company, imported car parts from India through the Chattogram Port in March this year.

The price of edible oil has risen in local markets amid stockpiling by large economies owing to the potential threat of a second wave of the coronavirus and a rising cost of all products worldwide, according to market players.