Bangladesh's export of fresh fruits and vegetable to the European Union (EU) countries is set to hit snags if the authorities do not stop export of betel leaves infected with harmful Salmonella Bacterium, officials said.
Trade relations with the EU may take a turn for the worse in the coming days because of clandestine export of infected betel leaves. Bangladesh may lose Tk 15.0 billion earnings if the EU imposes a ban on import of fresh fruits and vegetable, sources concerned said.
Mahbub Ahmed, Senior Secretary of the Ministry of Commerce (MoC) had talks with the Chairman of the National Board of Revenue (NBR) in this connection recently, sources said.
The MoC sent a letter to the NBR calling for banning the hazardous leaves that are being exported in collusion with several dishonest Customs officials and its exporters through airports.
The Commerce Secretary requested the NBR Chairman to take tough action against the Customs officials who are involved in sending betel leaves inside baskets of fruits and vegetable.
Sources said infected betel leaves are being sent to the EU countries clandestinely with fruits and vegetable despite temporary restriction imposed by the Commerce Ministry and the Rapid Alert System for Food and Feed (RASFF) of the UK.
Betel leaf (paan) export to the European countries has faced the sudden blow due to lack of necessary measures for producing bacteria-free leaves in order to resume its export to Europe, an exporter said.
"Export growth of betel leaf might drop sharply in the current fiscal year 2013-14 due to bacteria outbreak. We are worried about the bleak export prospect of the item," he told the FE.
Betel leaf is widely chewed by the people of the sub-continent as a hard-to-quit habit. It is also popular among many expatriates in the European countries.
Bangladesh earns US$ 8.0 million per year by exporting betel leaves to the UK, according to the Commerce Ministry.
The Rapid Alert System for Food and Feed (RASFF) of the UK detected Salmonella Bacterium in Bangladesh's betel leaf. Afterwards, the agency requested the UK government to ban import of the leaf from Bangladesh. Following this development, the Ministry of Commerce of Bangladesh issued a public notification saying it slapped a ban on export of the betel leaf to the European countries.
Detection of Salmonella Bacterium in betel leaves in the UK prompted the European Union to suspend imports from Bangladesh until July 31, 2014 temporarily.
Bangladesh's export earning from fresh fruits and vegetables stood at US$182 million in the last fiscal.
Over the first six months of the current fiscal, the country earned about US$75 million from the export of fresh fruits and vegetables.
The value of betel leaf export to the European and Middle Eastern countries stood at over US$ 31 million in 2012, according to government figures.
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