Liquidity crunch puts shrimp, fish exporters in peril

The country's frozen shrimp and fish exporters are facing a severe liquidity scarcity for maintaining their overseas trade due to unavailability of the arrears of cash incentive from the government.
Keeping this in view, the Bangladesh Frozen Foods Exporters Association (BFFEA) has urged the government to release Tk 1.74 billion in audited, outstanding cash assistance for the sake of their survival, they added.
The BFFEA, the sectors' apex body, in a letter also highlighted that the aforesaid amount of arrears remained pending with Bangladesh Bank (BB) until September 2025.
The association mentioned that such cash incentive is urgently needed for the survival of the industry, which has been exporting to as many as 55 countries for 54 years, thus earning valuable foreign currencies and providing employment to rural populations, particularly impoverished shrimp and fish farmers.
The request comes in the wake of releasing Tk 20.00 billion worth of cash incentive by the Ministry of Finance (MoF) on May 22, 2025.
In addition to that, the ministry also released another Tk 10.0 billion on September 3, 2025.
However, the BFFEA noted with concern that the frozen shrimp and fish sector received only a "small amount" from the realised fund, with "some bank branches receiving not a single penny.
"Due to the prevailing liquidity crisis, the export activities are being seriously hampered, thus putting our export earnings target at stake," said a BFFEA representative.
The frozen seafood sub-sector, entire materials of which are purchased from marginal farmers, is struggling due to the prevailing 'unfavourable' conditions in the global market.
The sector insiders claimed that disbursement of export assistance, which remained suspended for almost a year due to pending audit objections. However, such objections were reportedly resolved on September 30, 2024, paving the way for resuming the process.
They also claimed that the prevailing scarcity of raw materials has put the factory operators in a difficult situation in purchasing the same from the domestic sources.
The BFFEA maintained that the cash assistance is not a "dividend" but a crucial mechanism to facilitate export activities and help earn foreign currencies for the country.
However, the sector insiders expressed their hope that availability of such financial support would not only help clear the arrear dues of factory workers and impoverished farmers, but also meet the sectors' export earnings target.
A finance ministry official said: "We are working on the matter. The BFFEA's plea is now under our consideration."

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