Dates Stuck at Chittagong Customs after Tariff Hike

After the announcement of the increase in tariff, no Clearing and Forwarding (C&F) agents cleared dates from the Chattogram Customs on Wednesday, 29 March, triggering a fear of rising date price during Ramadan.

“The tariff for dates has been increased in light of the decision of the National Board of Revenue (NBR). No clearing and forwarding (C&F) agents cleared the bill of entry on import of date on Wednesday after the tariff increase,” said revenue officer Md Harunur Rashid of the Chattogram Customs House.

Sources said that from Wednesday, the tariff on dates brought on cartons was increased from $1 to $2.50 per kg, and the tariff for dates brought on sacks was increased from 50 cents to $1.25.

However, the rate of import duty on dates has remained unchanged at 25% for packets weighing less than 2.5 kg and at 10% for sacks weighing more than 2.5 kg.

Chattogram Customs Assistant Commissioner Mohiuddin Patwary said that the tariff for dates has been increased upon instruction from the commissioner and the National Board of Revenue (NBR).

“We have 75 containers of dates are awaiting clearance after completing physical examinations. But this morning, we were informed by the Customs that the tariff for dates on cartons has been increased from $1 to $2.50 per kg and dates brought in sacks have been increased from 50 cents to $1.25. This puts us in trouble with clearance,” said Md Mujibur Rahman of M/S Sonargaon Associates Ltd.

Babu Das of C&F agent S Hossain and Company said that they have ten containers of dates awaiting customs clearance after completing physical examination. Similarly, three containers of C&F agent Nipun Enterprise and two containers of Safi Enterprise also have remained unreleased.