Local spinners on Thursday called on authorities concerned to address the barriers they are facing in importing cotton from US to help the smooth supply of the main raw material used for RMG manufacturing.
They also urged US government for duty concession on RMG products made from US cotton to enhance the bilateral trade.
USA has always maintained its cotton quality resulting no complaints, Bangladesh Textile Mills Association (BTMA) President Mohammad Ali Khokon said on Thursday.
The only limitation faced in importing US Cotton by the Bangladeshi spinners is the fumigation of US Cotton at Chittagong port which is not required for the cotton imported from other countries.
He requested the government, USDA, Cotton Council International (CCI), Bangladesh Cotton Association (BCA) to look into the matter seriously.
He was speaking at the celebration event of 'World Cotton Day' with the theme ‘cotton for good’ jointly organised by BCA and CCI held at Dhaka Club in the city.
Textile and jute minister Golam Dastagir Gazi was present as chief guest while US ambassador to Bangladesh Earl R. Miller, Brazil ambassador to Dhaka Joao Tabajara de Oliveira Junior were also present.
BCA president Sultan Riaz Chowdhury made welcome speech while CCI, USA country representative Ali Arsalan and the programme chair Mohammad Ayub presented two separate keynote papers.
Terming USA as one of the major export destinations of local RMG, the BTMA leader said there is a lot of potentials to enhance the trade more between the two countries.
"But the existing tariff structure to enter the US market of our RMG products is comparatively high", he said.
He urged US government to provide some concession for the RMG products of Bangladesh made from US Cotton and added this will be a win-win situation for both countries.
He also requested Mr Miller to raise the issue with US government with high emphasis.
The BTMA leader also urged Brazilian ambassador to find out a mechanism so that local spinners can raise their import of Brazilian cotton and the export of local RMG products there.
Bangladesh exported RMG products worth US$ 31.45 billion and imported 8.2 million bales of raw cotton in the last fiscal year to meet the local exporters’ demand for yarn and fabric, he noted.
Addressing the celebration, Mr Miller expressed hope that the fumigation issue would be addressed soon saying once the testing requirement is withdrawn, it would benefit not the US cotton exporters but also be cost effective for Bangladeshi manufacturers.
He said Bangladesh imported about 14 per cent of its required cotton from US last fiscal which would increase further with the rise in garment exports and work orders.
Referring to the country’s US$ 4.16 billion single month export earnings in September last, Mr Arsalan said about the rising demand for cotton in coming months.
Bangladesh will need to import about 2.0 million bales of cotton for October to December period, he predicted.
Explaining the purpose of the Day, Mr Ayub said World Cotton Day 2021 offered an opportunity for all cotton trade related stakeholders to come together, share knowledge, showcase cotton-related activities and the agricultural crop’s critical role in economic development, international trade and poverty alleviation.
World Trade Organisation (WTO) in 2019 launched the World Cotton Day while the United Nations General Assembly on August 30 last officially recognised October 07 as World Cotton Day, he added.
