Export of 2m tonnes of cement to India a year under study

FE Team | Published: September 16, 2007 00:00:00 | Updated: February 01, 2018 00:00:00

Jasim Uddin Haroon
Local cement manufacturers are mulling over export of around 2.0 million tonnes of cement to India a year to reduce the trade imbalance with the neighbour.
Currently, local manufacturers are exporting around 0.15 million tonnes of cement to different Indian states.
Bangladesh started exporting cement to India following approval by the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) this year.
Bangladesh has annual capacity to manufacture 16.40 million tonnes of cement at its different plants, located mainly in Narayanganj, Chittagong, Munshiganj and Dhaka.
Currently, 38 out of 60 factories are in operation producing 8.3 million tonnes of cement mainly to meet local requirement.
Of them, there are three integrated cement plants, which also produce clinker, the main ingredient to manufacture cement.
Chhatak Cement, Lafarge Surma Cement and Niloy Cement are the integrated cement factories while others are dependant on imported clinkers.
While talking to the FE, senior vice president of Bangladesh Cement Manufac-tures Association Mohammed Amirul Haque said the country's cement might easily export a large volume to the markets of bordering Indian states.
"We are facing some problems like bureaucratic red-tape and those relating to payment of tax at the export level," he added.
He said: "We need government support to reach our export target of 2.0 million tonnes to India".
He also said there is also possibility to export cement to neighbouring Myanmar.
However, the BIS, the designated Indian agency, allowed a total of three Bangladeshi cement manufacturing companies to sell cement in Indian market.
These are Holcim Cement, Aramit Cement Limited and MI Cement Factory Limited.
Holcim Cement is now exporting cement to Assam through river routes, which is more cost effective.
The other two companies might start export shortly.
The BIS has given the go-ahead signal to the local companies after New Delhi liberalised the cement import policy in May this year.
The BIS has opened a special cell to clear proposals from abroad following government's liberalisation of the import policy.
However, sources said foreign manufacturers receive the Indian clearance in two months' time for export of cement.
The Directorate General of Foreign Trade of India in May this year suspended the restrictions on cement import from foreign countries until March 2008.