Bangladeshi vegetable exporters have been unable to send produces to the United Kingdom for the past 10 days with the only scanner at Shahjalal International Airport in Dhaka out of order.
At the other end of the supply chain, Bangladeshi businesses in Britain are staring at the prospect of losing the vegetable market as exports halted several times after the scanner stopped working in past few years, reports bdnews24.com.
Bangladeshi expatriates could not buy vegetables at New Spitalfields Market in East London, the largest wholesale vegetable market in Britain, on Saturday.
Atiqur Rahman, one of the owners of Anika Fruit & Veg Ltd in the market, said he had not received produces from Bangladesh for the past two weeks.
“They're [exporters] saying that the scanner at the airport is out of order. How does an airport operate with only one scanner?” he wondered, adding that he had lost orders worth £20,000 in this period.
Bangladeshi businesses in the UK said the exporters can send produces worth only £32 million against an annual demand of £100 million. And if vegetables can be supplied to Turkey, Africa and East European businesses in the UK, the market of Bangladeshi produces will be worth £500 million.
Sohel Ahmed, owner of Meridian Vegetables UK, said they cannot sell all varieties of vegetable Bangladesh produces because many are banned in Britain. “Moreover, those still permitted are not coming for two weeks.”
He has a few boxes of banana stems, bottle gourds, arums, betel nuts and palms from
Bangladesh in his shop. Usually, on weekend, he keeps 40 to 50 boxes of each item. The shop supplies vegetables to all over Britain.
Rafiq Haider, president of British Bangladeshi Vegetable Importers Association, said Bangladeshi vegetables are gradually losing the market because of the irregular supplies.
In Bangladesh, the exporters are angry at the possibilities of losing their earnings to the lack of scanners.
One of them, Uttam Kumar of Dhaka, said the ongoing disruption caused by the scanner trouble is the third in six months. “We’re losing the market while the European businesses are becoming more dependent on other countries [than Bangladesh].”
President of Bangladesh Fruits, Vegetables and Allied Products Exporters' Association, SMA Zahangir Hossain said the UK allows vegetables scanned through machines it has authorised and the Dhaka airport had two such scanners.
One of them is permanently out of order and the other often does not work.
The airport has an alternative scanner for Europe-bound produces. Qatar Airways transports some vegetables to the UK via the Middle-Eastern country, but only two tonnes of products are allowed through the route at a time. Also, the expensive service has made it difficult for exporters to use the route, said Zahangir.
“The situation has prevailed for two to three years. We wrote to the Civil Aviation Authority, but they’re not doing anything. This is doing damage to the country.
“The UK is a big market for Bangladesh’s vegetables and other countries are trying hard to enter it. If they succeed, we won’t be able to retry it,” he warned.
Mansur Ahmed, general secretary of the exporters’ association, said 10 to 12 tonnes of produces could have been sent abroad had the scanner been operational and the Civil Aviation Authority of Bangladesh, or CAAB, earns 6 cents to scan 1 kg of produce.
“It’d be possible to buy four scanners with the money earned in one week,” he said, “but the authorities aren't taking any measure.”
Mansur claimed Salman F Rahman, the prime minister’s advisor for private sector, had visited the airport to settle the issue. “But nothing has worked. The government is taking so many steps to boost exports of agricultural products, but we’re stuck at the airport.”
“The business of perishable food products cannot continue with such disruptions. People in the UK won’t wait for our products. Indian, Sri Lankan, Thai and Malaysian products will enter the market. Will we be able to push them out?”
He lamented that the market of Bangladesh’s betel leaf in the UK was destroyed in a similar way.
Group Captain AHM Touhid-ul Ahsan, executive director of the airport, said it would take two more weeks to repair the scanner once the necessary parts arrive.
Officials said the parts of the scanner approved by the UK’s Department of Transport are not available in Bangladesh.
