Withdraw SD on ceramic sanitary ware: manufacturers
Ceramics makers have demanded withdrawal of the proposed supplementary duty (SD) on sanitary ceramic products to help protect the local industry amid the Covid-19 outbreak.
The proposed national budget recommended imposing a 10 per cent SD on ceramic sink, basin pedestal, commode, toilet pan and fittings of bathroom and fixtures.
"We will fail to keep up with the foreign products if the supplementary duty is imposed now," said Irfan Uddin, general secretary of Bangladesh Ceramic Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BCMEA).
The new SD will create pressure on the industry at a time when it is struggling to survive, said Irfan, also the managing director of FARR Ceramics Ltd.
The trade body placed its demands to the National Board Revenue on June 16.
Bangladesh has 68 ceramic manufacturers, of whom 61 are currently active in production. Twenty of them produce tableware, 25 tiles and 16 sanitary wares, Irfan said.
But still the country has to import some raw materials such as zirconium silicate, cover coat, printing ink, lavatory seats and covers, flushing equipment, tank fitting and concealed water tank, he said.
"The customs duty on these products hovers between 15 and 25 per cent, which is too much for us now as we could not sell a single product in the last three months due to the countrywide shutdown."
So, the association also called for reducing the customs duty on import of the products by 20 percentage points to 5 per cent.
The local industry produced over 25 crore pieces of tableware, nearly 20 crore square metres of tiles and over 83 lakh pieces of sanitary ware in fiscal 2017-18, according to BCMEA.
Bangladeshi manufacturers meet 80 per cent of the local demand for ceramics products and the demand has been increasing at 20 per cent on an average for the last few years, Irfan said.
But the demand came to a halt when the government imposed the nationwide closure to control the spread of coronavirus, said Shirajul Islam Mollah, president of BCMEA.
"It would take at least six months to return to normalcy and it will be a long-term challenge for the sector as consumers will focus on purchasing luxury items only after recovering from the coronavirus crisis."
Around Tk 35,000 crore worth of ceramic products were sold in Bangladesh in 2019 and it has experienced a 200 per cent growth in production in the last 10 years, according to the association.
In 2018-19, local ceramic makers exported $68.97 million worth of products, posting a 32.79 per cent year-on-year rise, according to the Export Promotion Bureau.
Bangladesh now holds 0.14 percent of the global ceramic market and ships its products to 50 countries, including the USA, the UK, Canada and Europe and Latin America.
Businesses have so far invested Tk 9,000 crore in the local ceramics industry and provided jobs to five lakh workers, of whom 40 per cent are women, Irfan said.
"Fifteen new entities are planning to enter Bangladesh market and five of them will soon start investing here."
The sector is yet to become export-oriented and still it has a huge potential, he said.
The ceramics sector was completely import dependent just 15 years ago, but now local manufacturers have gained trust of the domestic and global consumers, he said.
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