Frozen food exporters for increasing cash incentives to 20pc

Frozen food exporters have urged the government to increase cash incentives on their exports to 20 per cent from existing 10 per cent, as the sector has been hit hard by the Russia-Ukraine war.
President of the Bangladesh Frozen Food Exporters Association Md Amin Ullah wrote a letter to the commerce ministry on June 05 last, seeking enhancement of cash incentives.
The association claimed that the country's export earnings would increase if the government increased the incentives.
"We've received a letter from the frozen food exporters association recently. We are working on the issue for the next course of action," a high official of the ministry said.
Currently, the frozen fish industry enjoys 10 per cent cash incentives on export of shrimp and 5.0 per cent on export of other fishes.
The promising frozen food sector is now bearing the brunt of Russia-Ukraine war, as the European economy, the largest market of the country's frozen food items, has been going through recession due to the ongoing conflict, according to the letter.
Due to the war, the price of shrimp has come down by US$2.0 per kg in the global market, including the European market, explained the document.
Besides, the shrimp export has been facing troubles as the local variety has to compete with the low-priced shrimp variety called Vannamei (or whiteleg shrimp) in the global market.
In addition, overhead costs, including bank interest, power and fuel, labour wages and transportation, have increased manifold, industry insiders said.
Even the rent of refrigerated (reefer) containers has doubled recently, they said.
So, the government should increase the incentives to 20 per cent from the existing 10 to help the exporters continue business in the international setting, they added.
The country saw a positive growth of 17.45per cent in the overall export of frozen and live fish in the fiscal year (FY) 2021-22, compared to the immediate last fiscal year.

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