Chittagong Customs authorities yesterday started to dispose of 528 tonnes of imported oranges, apples and onions worth Tk 2.50 crore as the items were found to be rotten and unfit for human consumption.

Fruits in 10 containers were dumped at Chittagong City Corporation's dumping yard at Halishahar.

Seven Chittagong-based firms and two firms from Dhaka brought the items in 21 containers in a period of four months till April this year.

The importers are Chittagong-based Chittagong Faul Banijjo Ltd, FK Trading, S&F Trade Corporation, F Rahaman Enterprise, Marium Enterprise, MKB Corporation and Poly Enterprise, and Dhaka-based Sohran Enterprise and Ramisha Enterprise.

Eighteen containers contain 4.67 lakh kg of oranges, two containers hold 47,887 kg of apples and one container 12,650 kg of onions.

Sources said as the importers did not take the delivery of the cargoes on time, the customs authorities decided to auction those off last month.

But during physical examination of the containers, customs officials found the items a bit discoloured and smelling bad, said Md Ahsan Ullah, assistant commissioner for auction at Chittagong Customs House.

Samples were sent to the laboratories of Bangladesh Atomic Energy Commission and the quarantine department. The reports from the laboratories also confirmed that the items were rotten and smelling bad, according to sources.

Sources in the customs house said the importers might have intentionally not received the delivery after finding that the prices of the items unlucrative in the local market at the time of arrival.

They delayed paying port charges and demurrages claimed by shipping agents for keeping the containers beyond the stipulated time. The charges and demurrages might have surpassed the import value, encouraging the importers to abandon the items completely, sources said.

France-based CMA CGM, the owning firm of 21 refrigerated containers, lost Tk 1.15 crore in demurrage for keeping the containers for too long in the port.

The Chittagong Port Authority did not get Tk 1.5 crore as store rent for the containers. Similarly, the customs authorities had to give up 1.5 crore in lost revenue. Importers usually pay rent and demurrages before receiving a delivery.

Wahid Alam, managing director of CMA CGM Bangladesh Shipping Ltd, said the losses could have been avoided if the customs authorities had auctioned off the goods on time. Chittagong Faul Banijjo Ltd imported 25,600 kg of oranges from Egypt and the consignment arrived at the port on March 6.

Zakir Hossain, proprietor of the firm, said it took two weeks to get the berth for the vessel and when the consignment arrived, the market of orange was not good. “So, we made the delay for sample draw.”

The sample draw found 25 percent of the orange were substandard, prompting the firm to write to the exporter for a discount and the exporter agreed, Hossain said.

But it took almost two months to complete the correspondence with the exporter and by then a hefty amount of charges in the form of store rent and shipping agent's demurrage were slapped on the importer. So, the firm chose to avoid taking the delivery and make the payments.