The state-run Trading Corporation of Bangladesh (TCB) has taken an initiative to sell six essential items to some one crore low-income group families ahead of holy month of Ramadan, a press release said. As part of this, the TCB will start selling three essential items - edible oil, sugar, dates and chickpeas and lentils -- among such families from Thursday (March 9). These essential items will be sold in two phases. In the first phase selling of the items will start from Thursday across the country. Commerce Minister Tipu Munshi will inaugurate the sales of essential items formally through a function at Tejgaon in the capital on Thursday. The card holders can buy the six goods at subsidised rates from the TCB's specific sales points and dealers’ outlets. Read more: TCB to buy 1.60 crore litres of soybean oil for OMS ahead of Ramadan A card holder can buy 2 litre soybean oil, 2 kg lentil, sugar, chickpea and 1 kg date at a time. The card holders can buy sugar TK 60/per kg, date at Tk100, lentil at Tk 70, chickpea at Tk 50 and soybean oil at Tk 110 per litre.

Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) Thursday said they seized goods, arms, and drugs worth Tk130.63 crore in January. The seized items include 523,268 yaba pills, 3.169kg crystal meth, 14,617 bottles of Phensedyl, 22,728 bottles of foreign liquor, 133 litres of local liquor, 5,229 cans of beer, 2,501kg hemp, 8.832kg heroin, 19,289 stimulant injections, 10,947 Eskuf syrups, and 905 bottles of MkDil/Cofidil, Shariful Islam, public relations officer of the BGB headquarters, said. Also, 31.628kg gold, 6.061kg silver, 162,109 cosmetics, 22,510 imitation jewellery, 10,789 sarees, 5,763 three-piece sets, blankets and shirt pieces; 2,712 pieces of readymade garments, 3,386 cubic feet of timber, 3,942kg Indian tea, 86,714kg coal, 1,074kg pesticide, two touchstone idols, 79 motorcycles, seven cars, 13 pickup vans, 20 CNG and battery-run auto-rickshaws were also seized. Read more: BGB seized Tk98 crore goods in October The seized arms include two pistols, 22 guns, 130 rounds of ammunition, one mortar shell and 60mm mortar ammunition.  Also, legal action was taken against 198 smugglers, 52 Bangladesh nationals as well as seven Indian nationals for illegally crossing the border, Shariful said.

Bangladesh exported goods worth around $ 5.13 billion in January amid disrupted imports of raw materials for foreign exchange crisis, According to the Export Promotion Bureau (EPB). After receiving $1.96 billion inward remittance in January, this is another good news of earning over $5.13 billion from export, which grew by 5.89 percent year-on-year. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) approved a $.70 billion loan for Bangladesh, the latest earning from remittances and export income hinted at a stabilising foreign exchange situation.  The EPB released the updated statistics of exporting goods on Thursday. According to the data, in the first seven months (July-January) of the current fiscal year 2022-23, goods worth $32.44 billion were exported, which is 9.81 percent more than the same period of last fiscal year. Analysing the EPB data, it is seen that the exports of readymade garments, leather and leather products, non-leather shoes, plastic products have increased in the first seven months of the current financial year. Read more: In May export income falls to 9-month low at $3.83 bn: EPB However, exports of jute and jute products, agro-processed products, home textiles and frozen food have declined during this period. Since the Russia-Ukraine war, inflation in the country is on the rise. Consumers' purchasing power decreases, resulting in lower purchase orders. In the mid of the year, the gas-electricity crisis became evident in the country. Load shedding causes disruption of production for a large part of the day. It also happened that the production was stopped for 12 hours due to shortage of gas. Despite this crisis, there was a strong growth in the export of products at the beginning of the current financial year. Apart from this, in the first seven months of the current fiscal year, leather and leather products worth $73 million have been exported. This export is 7.37 percent higher than the same period of last year. On the other hand, home textile products worth $690 million have been exported during July-January of the current fiscal year. This export is 16.65 percent less than the same period of last year. Again, the export of agro-processed products worth $550 million is 25.86 percent less than the same period of last year.

The National Board of Revenue (NBR) is working to impose additional duty on 330 products which are not essential goods, said commerce secretary Tapan Kanti Gosh. He said no essential goods were imported in the country spending foreign exchange, Bangladesh Trade and Tariff Commission and NBR are assessing how much duty can be increased to discourage imports. Read more: NBR supports Made in Bangladesh brand: Chairman The commerce secretary told reporters around $1 billion can be saved by controlling those goods. The government of Bangladesh had increased the duty on 135 products last May to discourage imports. But even then the trade deficit has not reduced much. As a result, the Ministry of Commerce requested the Bangladesh Trade and Tariff Commission to verify that the duty can be increased on any other products, sources said. Read more: NBR counting losses for rampant tax evasion Following that request, the commission prepared a list of 330 products and sent it to the Ministry of Commerce. Later the ministry sent it to the National Board of Revenue (NBR). Read more: 20% year-on-year growth: NBR collected record Tk 8,733cr VAT in Aug Mainly luxuries and less important national products dominate the list.    

A man went missing when a trawler sank in the Meghna River in Chandpur district on Tuesday morning. The victim was identified as Delwar Hossain, 35, driver of the trawler. Md Quamruzzaman, officer-in-charge of Chandpur river police station, said the Shariatpur-bound goods-laden trawler with four people including its driver sank in the river near Meghna-Dakatia estuary. Read: Two dead, two others missing in Noakhali trawler capsize All but the driver of the trawler went missing while the others managed to swim ashore. A complaint has been lodged in this connection.  

The nationwide transport strike, enforced by transporters against fuel price hike, is seriously disrupting the movement of inbound and outbound goods-laden vehicles of Chattogram port, bringing goods delivery almost to a halt. No vehicle has been seen entering the port for carrying the unloaded goods or leaving it since the early hours of Friday, said sources at the country’s largest port. The port authority, however, said loading and unloading of containers and goods from vessels are normal at the jetty. Bus, truck and van owners went on an indefinite strike from Friday in protest against fuel price hike. Also read: Strike to continue as transporters’ meeting with minister ends ‘inconclusively’ Port secretary Md Omar Faruque said, “All the activities inside the port are normal. If the strike continues for a longer period, it’ll affect its activities for sure.”

Bangladesh's consumer electronics exports jumped 8.5 times in the first nine months of the fiscal year 2020-21, compared to the same period of the previous fiscal year, according to Export Promotion Bureau data. During the July-March period of the FY2019-20, Bangladesh earned around $1.44 million from the exports of electronics goods – including refrigerator and freezer, air conditioner, LED television, washing machine, blender, rice cooker, gas stove, induction cooker, fan, hot plate, refrigerator compressor and components – according to the EPB. In the same period of FY21, the country's earnings from the electronics goods export rose to $12.22 million, about 8.5 times higher than the export earnings of the previous fiscal year's same period. READ: Vision Electronics launches Google-approved Android TV Industry insiders think that the local electronics manufacturing industry will emerge as the country's major export earning sector like the readymade garment sector if the government provides necessary policy support including export incentives.  One and a half-decade ago, the local demand for electronics products were met with the imported goods. Now the local brands have proved their mettle in capturing more than 90% of the markets by overcoming the foreign brands' complete dominance.  Also, international market analysts said Bangladeshi brands have enough potential to grab a lion's share in the global consumer electronics market.  READ: Domestic electronics, technology products should get priority in govt procurement: Speakers  They said China is the major supplying country of most global consumer electronics brands. But the growing trade tension between the US and China have led the global brands to lean towards establishing business relations with other Asian countries.