Food exports to rise if India accepts BSTI certificates
Packaged food exporters continue to require testing their products in Indian labs as the customs authorities there are yet to accept certificates issued by Bangladesh Standards and Testing Institution (BSTI), the national standards body.
As a result, they have to wait for days, sometimes even up to a month and half, to get test results from the Indian labs to market their products in the neighbouring market.
The barrier dampens business prospects as it not only increases the cost of doing business but also reduces the shelf life of the snacks, discouraging consumers from buying those, they added.
Exports of snacks would have increased manifold had there been no such barriers, said Khurshid Ahmad Farhad, general secretary of Bangladesh Agro-Processors' Association.
Importers are also reluctant to place fresh orders until they can clear stocks.
The recognition of certificates issued by BSTI could help bridge the huge trade imbalance between the two nations, according to businesses. It is hindering the growth of food shipments to India, which has offered duty free entry to all products from Bangladesh, excluding some alcoholic and tobacco items.
Tilted in favour of India, bilateral trade stood at $6.14 billion in fiscal 2015-16. Bangladesh exported goods worth $689 million in fiscal 2015-16, according to data compiled by Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry.
This is a long standing problem despite the fact that BSTI got accreditation for 161 parameters of 27 different products, such as fruit juice, fruit drinks, jam, jelly, biscuits, noodles, carbonated beverages, soap, cement, MS rod and GI pipes, from India's National Accreditation and Calibration Laboratories (NABL) by fulfilling all the requirements.
In past meetings on bilateral trade and cooperation since 2012, Bangladesh has been requesting Indian authorities to issue notifications to accept BSTI test certificates for products that are accredited by NABL.
At the last India-Bangladesh Commerce Secretary Level Meeting in New Delhi in November, 2016, Bangladesh again raised the matter, according to the Joint Record of Discussion.
The Indian side informed the meeting that its concerned regulator needs to examine and permit acceptance of NABL accredited certifications.
In respect to food items, India said the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) made its draft regulation public. The draft proposed to identify laboratories in exporting countries, including Bangladesh, for prior testing of food samples before the food articles are exported to India.
“The arrangement would be on a reciprocal basis and these laboratories would be notified by FSSAI,” according to the Joint Record of Discussion, posed on the Ministry of Commerce and Industry of India website.
“We are yet to get any notification in this regard,” said a senior official of the commerce ministry, seeking anonymity.
To eliminate technical barriers to trade and facilitate reciprocal market access of products of both the countries, BSTI and Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) signed an agreement on cooperation in standardisation and conformity assessment during the visit of India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Dhaka on June 6, 2015.
Under the agreement, an action plan was prepared by the BIS and was shared with BSTI last year. Later, the BSTI sent the plan to BIS, giving its observations.
At the commerce secretary level meeting in November last year, the Indian side said comments are being examined by BIS for finalisation. Since then, we have no correspondence, said a senior official of BSTI.
There is a provision to identify products for standardisation and conformity assessment, but it is yet to start, according to the BSTI official.
Kamruzzaman Kamal, marketing director at leading processed foods exporter PRAN RFL, said both consumers and business would be benefited if similar standards are accepted in both countries. “Exports would have increased.”
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