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Jute millers have urged the government to settle unpaid dues of duty drawback on exported jute items urgently as the mills are in a tight spot, according to sources.
The term 'drawback' is used exclusively for the refund of duties and taxes against exports, according to bangladeshcustoms.gov.bd.
The Bangladesh Jute Mills Association (BJMA) has requested the commerce ministry to ask the Duty Exemption and Drawback Office (DEDO) for refunding unpaid dues to BJMA-affiliated millers.
According to industry insiders, the country's jute mills are currently going through a sticky patch.
They are passing hard times due to non-payment of duty drawback claims.
The complexity arose because of selecting the DEDO instead of banks for the payment of such funds, they claimed.
Banks used to pay duty drawback facilities before 2013.
A good number of mills under the BJMA have not received any duty refund despite submitting applications and export documents for fiscal years 2019-2020, 2020-2021, 2021-2022 to the DEDO.
In the circumstances, a meeting was held at the National Board of Revenue under the chairmanship of customs member (policy and ICT) to review and finalise draft rules under the Customs Act 1969. But no progress has been made regarding the decisions taken in the meeting held in September 2020.
For the sake of expanding the export of jute products, necessary steps should be taken to refund duties and taxes in flat rates as per provisions.
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