Although the government has given six sugar refiners permission to export 2,62,000 tonnes of sugar, only one refiner could export 5,5000 tonnes of the item because of falling price of the
commodity on the international market.
Ending a two-year ban on sugar export the government issued a notice in October last year allowing sugar export following request from the refiners.
The government permitted to export 2,12,000 tonnes of sugar by five private refiners and 50,000 tonnes by the Bangladesh Sugar and Food Industries Corporation.
After six months of the permission only City Group could export 55,000 tonnes out of permitted 95,000 tonnes.
Officials of the private refiners said export of sugar was now under process and it took some time due to a fall in the price of the commodity on the international market and lack of confidence of buyers.
Mohiuddin Monem, managing director of Abdul Monem Sugar Refinery Ltd, said they had got approval for exporting 43,000 tonnes of sugar but had failed to export any sugar yet due to a downward trend in the price of the commodity on the international market.
‘As the local refiners are producing sugar more than the demand for the commodity in the local market, the facility of exporting sugar should keep uninterrupted,’ he said.
Expressing his dissatisfaction over the sugar export policy of the government, Mohiuddin said the refiners were going to be bankrupt due to unsympathetic actions taken by the government.
Biswajit Saha, general manager of City Group, said they had started to export sugar and already shipped 55,000 tonnes of sugar to Middle East and Nepal.
He said they were taking preparations to export the remaining sugar to Europe and other Asian and Middle East countries.
Biswajit said the facility of exporting sugar should be kept open, like others traditional export items, to help grow confidence among the buyers.
He said that the recent political violence and frequent hartals were the other reasons for the hold-up in sugar export.
The government had banned sugar export in February 2010 to keep the price affordable and to improve domestic supplies.
On September 11 last year the government, however, decided to resume sugar export on a limited scale, ending a two-year ban on sales of the sweetener in the overseas markets.
In October last year the government issued statutory regulatory order to allow temporarily export of sugar considering the surplus production against the internal demand.
Under the SRO, the exporters have to get permission from the commerce ministry for each consignment, have to collect stocks certificate of sugar from Bangladesh Sugar Refiners Association and have to add 10 per cent value on export.
Following the issuance of the SRO, Deshbandhu Sugar Mills Ltd got permission to export 49,000 tonnes, City Sugar Mills Ltd 95,000 tonnes, Abdul Monem Sugar Refinery Ltd 43,000 tonnes, United Sugar Mills Ltd 25,000 tonnes and Ria international 300 tonnes, said an official of Bangladesh Tariff Commission.
Sugar Refiners Association sources said except City Group, no other refiners was yet to start exporting sugar.
Another company S Alam Refined Sugar Industries Ltd has recently applied to the commerce ministry, seeking permission to export 20,000 tonnes of sugar.
Abdus Samad, managing director of the company, said they expected that the commerce ministry would approve their appeal soon and the sugar would be exported to Middle East.
-With New Age input
