The Bangladesh Tea Association (BTA) urged the government to declare tea a cent percent agricultural product, so that the sector can get bank loan at low interest rate like its other peers.
It requested the Ministry of Commerce (MoC) to write to the Ministry of Agriculture (MoA) immediately to consider the matter in line with a decision taken in a meeting earlier this year.
Due to non-declaration of tea as an agricultural product, the sector fails to obtain loan at 4.0 per cent interest rate, and is forced to pay 10.10 per cent interest.
On the other hand, producers of other agricultural products, like pulses, oil seeds, spices and maize, are getting loan at 4.0 per cent interest.
According to a Bangladesh Bank (BB) circular, some 60 per cent activities of tea sector is agriculture-related, while the rest 40 per cent is related to the industrial sector.
Thus, tea is not eligible for getting low-interest bank loan or the central bank's refinancing scheme, as only 100 per cent agriculture sector products are eligible for the facility.
BTA Chairman Kamran Tanvirur Rahman in a recent letter to the MoC wrote that tea industry has been making special contribution to Bangladesh's economy through employment generation, supplying tea as an alternative to importing the beverage, earning foreign currency, and poverty reduction.
The letter, also sent to the Finance Division, MoA, and BB, further said some 93.83 million kg of tea was produced in the country in 2022, of which 93.05 million kg was consumed locally and 0.78 million kg was exported.
Some 99.17 per cent of last year's total tea production was consumed locally as an alternative to importing the beverage.
If tea production is hampered due to any reason, the country will have to import a huge quantity of tea, for which foreign currency worth Tk 10-20 billion will be needed, he noted.
"So, tea needs to be declared as 100 per cent agricultural product."
Mr Rahman also opined that the sector can be made sustainable and profitable by making low-cost loans available for it.
The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change has already recommended declaring rubber as an agricultural product.
Similarly, tea deserves to be declared as cent per cent agricultural product, he added.
A MoC official told the FE on Monday that a meeting held earlier this year had decided to write to the MoA to take measures for declaring tea as cent per cent agricultural product.
"We have recently received the BTA's letter. We will write to the MoA soon in line with the meeting's decision," he said.
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