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The country's poultry breeders and feed manufacturers sought on Wednesday withdrawal of the proposed Advance Tax (AT) at the import stage and source tax on their raw materials.
They came up with the demand at a post-budget press conference at the Paragon House in the city.
They said if the fiscal measures were implemented, they would leave an adverse impact at the poultry producers' and consumers' level.
The production cost of feed would rise 10 per cent and that would help increase the prices of poultry products in the local market, they observed.
Feed Industries Associa- tion Bangladesh (FIAB) and Breeders Association of Bangladesh (BAB) jointly organised the press conference.
They expressed frustration over no withdrawal of the AT on maize import and also Regulatory Duty (RD) on soybean oil cake in the proposed budget for the fiscal year (FY) 2019-20. Instead, the authorities imposed AT on import of all types of products.
They also said if the source tax is executed, the poultry feed producers will face a price hike on feed ingredients that will be collected from the local sources.
Ihtesham B. Shahjahan, president, FIAB, said earlier they sought withdrawal of the 5.0 per cent RD on soybean oil cake, 5.0 per cent Customs Duty (CD) and Advance Trade Vat (ATV) on cotton seeds and palm nuts and 5.0 per cent AT on maize import.
"But we did not see any notable outcome in line with our demand in the proposed budget," he said.
"We have thought if the demand is met, the prices of poultry products will come down at the consumers' level," he said.
The RD remains unchanged on soybean oil cake and the AT on maize import. The RD has also been imposed on cotton seeds and palm nuts instead of CD, he added.
About 80 per cent of the total ingredients of poultry feed are maize and soybean. As the local source can meet only 40 per cent of the total demand for maize, they import a portion of it, he mentioned.
He however, said the budget proposed some benefits on import of materials including ammonia binder, liver protector, renal protector, respiratory protector and vaccine stabiliser which are not related to the feed industry.
So the sector would not benefit from the fiscal incentive, he added.
He, however, hailed the proposal of raising the export duty on rice bran. They requested the authorities to impose the same volume of duty on De Oiled Rice Bran.
Because of lack of raw materials, the capacity of feed mills remained unutilised at least 40 per cent, said the FIAB president.
He said poultry products are essential for consumers. But they are not getting the due attention from the authorities.
Replying to a query, Poultry Industries Central Council (BPICC) president Moshiur Rahman said the cost of production of poultry feed would increase about 10 per cent due to the new tax.
He also said the farmers were being confused by media reports about cut in prices of feed after announcement of the budget.
Mr Rahman hailed Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina for allocating a fund for a poultry research and development project at a meeting of the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (ECNEC) recently.
Rakibur Rahman Tutul, president of BAB, said they want to provide the poultry products at affordable prices to the consumers. "So, it is necessary to review the measures," he said.
According to him, about 30 million eggs are produced a day and 20 million baby chicks a week.
They also sought poultry insurance as announced by the finance minister before announcement of the budget.
Ahsanuzzaman, general secretary of FIAB, among others, spoke at the press meet.