Bangladesh Marine Fisheries Association (BMFA), the apex trade body of marine fisheries sector, has sought government approval to allow it import 30,000 tonnes of diesel annually under its own arrangement.
The association, that contributes Tk 150 crore annually to the country’s exports, is willing to avail of the opportunity to import diesel as like as the sponsors of local power plants to make their business vibrant and cost effective.
The BMFA has placed a proposal before the Ministry of Power, Energy and Mineral Resources recently.
In the proposal, the association mentioned they have 37 companies with 83 fishing trawlers including 28 shrimp and 55 other fisheries to collect marine fisheries and process it for exports.
They have the capacity to collect around 20,000 tonnes of marine fishes including shrimp and other delicious fisheries per year. “We have earned around Tk 150 crore per year through exporting shrimps and fishes,” the BMFA representative Abdur Rauf Chowdhury informed the ministry.
He added diesel is the necessary component to run the ocean going trawlers.
“We are exporting marine fisheries to Japan and other countries but we are loosing competitiveness due to hike in fuel tariff compared to other countries,” he informed. Besides, the fish exporters are going to face another challenge in price competitiveness as the Thailand and Vietnam released new verity of shrimp at low costs, he said. Due to high fuel tariff, fish processing cost has increased by 110 percent at present, he said.
He added the fishing trawlers have to suspend fish collection drives for 65 days a year to minimise the cost. Previously, they were running their trawlers 150 days in the sea, which now has come down to only 85 days. “So, the industry might face closure anytime if the processing cost increases day by day,” he said. The association has urged the authority to allow them import diesel to minimise their costs as like as sponsors of private power plants. According to the Bangladesh Power development Board (BPDB), the government has so far operated 43 oil-fired power plants having capacity to generate 3,463MW of electricity.
The power plant sponsors prefer oil-fired plants as they get double benefits from fuel-based projects, concerned officials said. “The sponsors get higher profits from power tariff and also enjoy 9 percent service charges benefit on fuel import for fuel-based plants,” said the officials. The BPDB also encourages fuel-based plants and requested Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation (BPC) to allow fuel import by the private sector.