DOT Desk: The government imposed regulatory taxes to discourage the import of fruits, but apple imports in FY23 increased by 17% compared to the previous fiscal year, making it one of the highest import tax generators. Orange imports have decreased during the period, but it too was among the top import revenue earners in FY23, according to a report of the National Board of Revenue’s customs department, reports TBS.
Last year, the government took steps to discourage the import of over a hundred non-essential goods – such as fruits, cosmetics, furniture – following the Russia-Ukraine war which disrupted the supply chains and drove up the product prices in the international market. The authorities imposed an additional 20% regulatory duty on the import of non-essential products from May 2022.
According to the Bangladesh Customs, over 15.62 lakh tonnes of apples were imported in FY23, which was about 2.3 lakh tonnes more than the imports in the previous fiscal year. The government collected around Tk992 crore duty-tax from imported apples last fiscal year, according to a preliminary report. However, a senior customs official told TBS, “This amount might be bigger than this estimation.” Bangladesh imported around 2.2 lakh tonnes of oranges in FY23, which was 25% less than the previous fiscal year.