Another 231k eggs imported from India

Amid the spiralling prices of eggs at local markets, another shipment of 231,000 eggs entered the country from India through Benapole land on Saturday night.

Dhaka based importer 'Hydro Land Solution' brought it the consignment costing Tk 5.70 per egg.

With a Tk 1.83 import duty at the land port, the buying price of each egg stands at over Tk 7.5. The government has permitted the import of 45 million eggs in phases.

By next month (November), another 9.0 million chicken eggs will arrive from India.

Shah Alam, a representative of the importer Hydro Land Solution, said the Ministry of Commerce permitted it to import of 5.0 million eggs in two months, setting a deadline by September 10.

But, the importers could import some 300,000 eggs in two shipments, he said, blaming the political instability for being barred from importing.

Upon appeals, the ministry extended the deadline by two more months till November, the representative said.

Masudur Rahman, revenue officer of the land port, confirmed that per egg costs over Tk 7.50 with tax.

Bangladesh's National Board of Revenue (NBR) Thursday slashed import duty on eggs from 25 per cent to 5.0 per cent to help rein in prices.

The egg import duty cut would reduce import costs of eggs by 13.8 taka per dozen, making the country's cheapest source of protein affordable for the commoners, the NBR said in a statement.

Recently low and middle income people are being forced to cut short consumption of eggs as prices soared to 200 taka a dozen over the last week in Dhaka and other parts of the country.

According to the Ministry of Commerce estimates Bangladesh has a daily demand for 40 million eggs.