Prices of imported fruit have risen in Feni because of higher duties, by about Tk 30 a kg. The prices of six kinds of imported fruit have gone up.

They are apples, grapes, oranges, mandarins, pears and pomegranates. As a result, the supply of imported fruit in Feni has fallen.

In the market, grapes are selling at Tk 600 a kg, up from around Tk 570. Apples that were Tk 320 are selling at Tk 350. Pomegranates are selling at Tk 450 and oranges at Tk 280.

Traders say the recent increase in supplementary duty has affected the price of imported fruit, and they have called a human chain demanding a cut in duty.

On Thursday afternoon (30 January), traders and workers at the Mohipal fruit wholesale market in Feni town took part in a human chain demanding lower duty.

Speakers included Faruk Chowdhury, president of the Feni fruit wholesale market traders' cooperative society, general secretary Rahim Uddin Ripon, and members Md Zia Uddin, Md Tajul Islam, Md Shahjahan, Md Khokon Mia, Md Chhaleh Ahammad Chattu and Md Aminul Haque Lovelu, among others.

Fruit trader Md Zia Uddin said sales have fallen because of the extra duty, leaving many traders without work. "Fruit has gone beyond people's purchasing power. If our demand is not met, we will launch a tougher movement," he said.

Faruk Chowdhury, president of the Feni fruit wholesalers' traders' cooperative society, said the supplementary duty is making it impossible to run the business, with a financial loss on every consignment. Where a truckload of fruit could once be sold in a day, it now cannot be sold in three or four days. Unless the supplementary duty is withdrawn, the imported fresh fruit business cannot continue, he said.

Rahim Ullah, general secretary of the Feni fruit wholesale market traders' association, said a person needs to eat 80 grams of fruit a day, but at current prices fruit is beyond anyone's purchasing power, and the poor and middle class cannot even think of buying it. Crores of people are involved in this business, and if prices keep rising it will soon shut down, he said.

Earlier, on 9 January, the National Board of Revenue (NBR) raised the supplementary duty on imports of dried and fresh fruit from 30 per cent to 45 per cent. The duty on some fresh fruits such as apples, grapes and watermelon, and on juice, was raised from 20 per cent to 30 per cent.

Source: Jagonews24. First published in Bengali on The Agro News.