Motorcycle-manufacturers demand ban on CKD bike import

Local motorcycle-makers have demanded immediate ban on import of final-painted CKD (Completely Knocked Down) bikes to protect the interest of the domestic industries.
Otherwise, they said, the local industry would be affected badly, making hundreds of jobs in this growing industrial sector vulnerable.
The government in the budget for current 2015-16 fiscal year scrapped the provision of import of final-painted CKD bikes, but the National Board of Revenue (NBR) in a SRO on July 1, 2015 allowed the provision to continue for another three years till 2018.
"This has created a wide scope for imported motorcycles to grab the domestic market, putting the local entrepreneurs aside and eventually discouraging the investors and hindering the industry's growth", said Hafizur Rahman Khan, the president of Motorcycle Manufacturers and Exporters Association of Bangladesh (MMEAB).
He urged the government to impose restriction on import of final-painted CKD bikes soon as allowing import of those would hamper the local industry by lowering price competitiveness on the market.
Rahman said after independence traders were allowed to import CBU (Completely Built Unit) and CKD motorcycles on condition of establishing local motorcycle manufacturing industries, but none of the importers made any investment to help establish any motorcycle manufacturing industry here.
On the other hand, with the support of the government, local entrepreneurs have established motorcycle manufacturing industries where thousands of people are employed, Rahman added.
Centering the motorcycle manufacturing industries, a strong backward linkage industry has also been grown up to meet the demand for parts and accessories, he said informing that the largest paint factory of South Asia has grown up in Bangladesh recently which is capable of supporting the importers to paint all parts and accessories at a nominal cost.
At present, five motorcycle manufacturing companies including Walton, Runner, Jamuna, Road Master and Grameen Motors have already been established in the country to run with full capacity.
Besides, establishment of another three to four motorcycle manufacturing industries is under process. Around seven to eight import substitute backward linkage industries have also been established in the country and they have been projecting business benefit from here.
The companies, mainly located in Dhaka, Faridpur, Dinajpur, and Bogra districts are manufacturing most of the accessories including seat, seat cover, chain, spoket, headlight, backlight, tyre, tube filter and side cover.
Golam Shahriar Kabir, Director (Sales and Marketing) of Jamuna Electronics and Automobiles Limited, said the government should not allow import of final-painted CKD motorcycles for the sake of the local manufacturers since they have full manufacturing capacity. Bangladesh now has many international standard painting industries which have the capacity to paint accessories and parts of around 0.5 million  pieces of motorcycles every year when the country is now a market of around 0.3 million motorcycles.
To promote the local industries, they said, many developing countries including China have imposed huge duties on import of CBU and CKD motorcycles. China and India have already imposed 100 percent duty on import of CBU/CKD units to protect their local industries, according to MMEAB.
-SS