Import of essential items yet to pick up on eve of Ramadan
Thursday, 16 August 2007
Jasim Uddin Haroon
Imports of some essential items, which are widely consumed during the holy Ramadan, have not picked up although the fasting month is barely one month away, port officials said.
"Only a few containers loaded with dates, ginger and garlic arrived at the Chittagong port over the past few days, which is small in comparison to the level this time in past years," said a private port operator.
Port insiders said commodities like chickpeas, date, ginger, garlic, onion and different kinds of fruits constitute the bulk import items during this period of time.
In June 2007, some 35,749 containers laden with import cargoes arrived at the port. Some 36,242 containers with laden cargoes arrived in July this year.
But, the containers were filled mostly with logs, capital machinery and garment accessories, project cargoes and raw materials for textiles.
Sources said price hike in the international markets and apathy of importers are the main reasons behind such slow imports of essential items.
They hinted that some 24 feeder vessels will arrive at the port within the next five days, which might carry essential items for consumption during the month of Ramadan.
Another private operator and managing director of Fazlisons Limited Fazle Ekram Chowdhury told the FE he expected some consignments with essential commodities to arrive soon.
In the meantime, the growth of port's cargo handling fell over the past six months (January 2007 to June 2007) compared with that of the corresponding period of the previous year.
The port witnessed more than 10 per cent annual handling growth over the past few years.
But the port's handling growth now stood at only 8.0 per cent.
Sources said the port handled a total of 457,243 containers over the past six months ending June 2007. It handled 419,725 containers during January-June 2006 period.
Imports of some essential items, which are widely consumed during the holy Ramadan, have not picked up although the fasting month is barely one month away, port officials said.
"Only a few containers loaded with dates, ginger and garlic arrived at the Chittagong port over the past few days, which is small in comparison to the level this time in past years," said a private port operator.
Port insiders said commodities like chickpeas, date, ginger, garlic, onion and different kinds of fruits constitute the bulk import items during this period of time.
In June 2007, some 35,749 containers laden with import cargoes arrived at the port. Some 36,242 containers with laden cargoes arrived in July this year.
But, the containers were filled mostly with logs, capital machinery and garment accessories, project cargoes and raw materials for textiles.
Sources said price hike in the international markets and apathy of importers are the main reasons behind such slow imports of essential items.
They hinted that some 24 feeder vessels will arrive at the port within the next five days, which might carry essential items for consumption during the month of Ramadan.
Another private operator and managing director of Fazlisons Limited Fazle Ekram Chowdhury told the FE he expected some consignments with essential commodities to arrive soon.
In the meantime, the growth of port's cargo handling fell over the past six months (January 2007 to June 2007) compared with that of the corresponding period of the previous year.
The port witnessed more than 10 per cent annual handling growth over the past few years.
But the port's handling growth now stood at only 8.0 per cent.
Sources said the port handled a total of 457,243 containers over the past six months ending June 2007. It handled 419,725 containers during January-June 2006 period.