BTA demands 20pc supplementary duty

Bangladesh Tea Association (BTA) on Monday demanded the government reinstate 20 percent supplementary duty, imposed earlier on imported tea, to safeguard the local tea producers and protect them from uneven competition. BTA leaders, led by its chairman M Safwan Chowdhury, put forward their demands in a letter sent to Finance Minister AMA Muhith at his secretariat office. The BTA in the letter mentioned that the import of cheap and substandard tea has been on the rise since 2010 which has led the country’s tea industry to an uneven competition and caused concern about the local tea producers, according to UNB.