Plastic goods manufacturers have demanded the government reduce the import duty on main raw materials to 1-3 per cent from the existing 5 per cent. They placed the demand at a press briefing organised by Bangladesh Plastic Goods Manufacturers and Importers Association (BPGMEA) at its office on Thursday. They said all the raw materials of the plastic industries are thermoplastic molding compounds which are petrochemical-based products and there is no local petro chemical based industries in the country.  “So, we have to import all these raw materials from abroad,” said Shamim Ahmed, President of BPGMEA. Read: Financial interoperability necessary for growth economy; Dr Atiur Other leaders of the association including Vice President AKM Iqbal Hossain, former Vice Presidents ASM Kamal Uddin, Ferdows Wahed and Shahedul Islam Helal were present on the occasion. The BPGMEA leaders also placed a number of demands ahead of the next national budget preparations. The demands include fixing of the tariff value of imported plastic goods at $12, reducing the import duty on PVC stabilizer, stearic acid, polyethylene wax, transfer paper to 5 percent from the existing 10 percent, imposing additional supplementary duty on import of plastic goods to protect the local industries and fixing the corporate tax at 10 percent for all sectors. The leaders also demanded allocation of fund for plastic waste management as the use of plastic goods is increasing day by day. They said there are over 5000 plastic goods manufacturing industries have developed across the country which meet the local demands where the growth is 20 percent. Read: IBBL reaches Tk 1.40 trillion deposits, 1.16 trillion investments: IBBL MD “These industries produce goods worth Tk 35,000 crore annually and the government is receiving revenue of Tk 3500 crore from the sector each year,” said the BPGMEA president. He said annually the manufacturers export plastic goods worth $1 billion which employs several thousands of workers. But the sector suffered a huge loss due to the Covid-19 pandemic, he said, adding that the manufacturers are now trying to recover from the shocks.