{"id":7088,"date":"2026-01-19T07:56:51","date_gmt":"2026-01-19T07:56:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/hernet.news\/?p=7088"},"modified":"2026-01-19T07:56:51","modified_gmt":"2026-01-19T07:56:51","slug":"bgmea-bkmea-urge-government-to-keep-bond-facility-on-indian-yarn-imports-warn-of-export-shock","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hernet.news\/?p=7088","title":{"rendered":"BGMEA, BKMEA Urge Government to Keep Bond Facility on Indian Yarn Imports, Warn of Export Shock"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Bangladesh\u2019s two leading apparel bodies, <strong>BGMEA<\/strong> and <strong>BKMEA<\/strong>, have called on the government to reverse a Commerce Ministry move to <strong>scrap the bond (duty-free) facility on cotton yarn imported from India<\/strong>, arguing the step would raise input costs, erode competitiveness, and deepen an ongoing export slowdown.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">At a joint press conference in Dhaka\u2019s Sonargaon Hotel, BGMEA acting president <strong>Selim Rahman<\/strong> said the recommendation\u2014advanced by the Bangladesh Trade &amp; Tariff Commission (BTTC)\u2014was taken <strong>\u201cunilaterally\u201d<\/strong> and <strong>overlooked apparel sector interests<\/strong>, despite exporters being the primary buyers of locally spun yarn. He further contended the decision breaches <strong>WTO Safeguards Agreement Articles 3 and 4<\/strong>, noting that no transparent, neutral injury investigation has demonstrated \u201cserious harm\u201d to domestic spinners.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Rahman argued the spinning industry needs <strong>capacity upgrades, productivity gains, reliable energy, and targeted incentives<\/strong>, not \u201cartificial protection\u201d via tariffs. He warned that adding duty costs now would deter orders: <strong>RMG exports fell 2.63% year-on-year in July\u2013December FY2025\u201326<\/strong>, with <strong>December alone down 14.23%<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The associations pressed for alternatives to a tariff hike:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Direct cash support\/special incentives<\/strong> for textile producers instead of import duties;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Assured gas and power<\/strong>, fuel price rationalization, corporate tax relief for export-oriented yarn makers, and <strong>concessional finance<\/strong> to cut spinning costs.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Leaders present included BGMEA senior vice-president <strong>Inamul Haque Khan<\/strong>, vice-president <strong>Shihab Uddowza Chowdhury<\/strong>, BKMEA president <strong>Mohammad Hatem<\/strong>, and executive president <strong>Fazle Shamim Ehsan<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Since the 1980s, Bangladesh has allowed <strong>duty-free yarn imports under bond<\/strong> to keep the RMG sector competitive. Local spinners have recently pushed back, citing cheaper Indian supplies and industry strain. BTTC backed the spinners\u2019 position, and the Commerce Ministry has decided to withdraw the bond benefit for <strong>Indian cotton yarn<\/strong>\u2014a step the apparel bodies say would ripple through <strong>export-oriented sub-contractors<\/strong> and smaller factories as well.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Bangladesh\u2019s two leading apparel bodies, BGMEA and BKMEA, have called on the government to reverse a Commerce Ministry move to scrap the bond (duty-free) facility on cotton yarn imported from India, arguing the step would raise input costs, erode competitiveness, and deepen an ongoing export slowdown. At a joint press conference in Dhaka\u2019s Sonargaon Hotel, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":7092,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7088","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-5"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hernet.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7088","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hernet.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hernet.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hernet.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hernet.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7088"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/hernet.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7088\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7097,"href":"https:\/\/hernet.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7088\/revisions\/7097"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hernet.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/7092"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hernet.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7088"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hernet.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7088"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hernet.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7088"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}