The government on Thursday gave businesses permission for exporting 2,520 more tonnes of hilsa to India on the eve of Durga Puja, the biggest religious festival of the Hindu community. Earlier, the ministry on Monday gave permission to 52 exporters for exporting 2,080 tonnes of hilsa to India. The commerce ministry on Thursday issued a circular allowing 63 more exporters to export 40 tonnes of hilsa each to India. So, Bangladesh has allowed 115 exporters to export a total of 4,600 tonnes of hilsa to India. Hilsa is a very popular and sought-after food fish in the Indian subcontinent. The demand for the fish is very high in the Indian state of West Bengal during Durga Puja. Export of hilsa has remained banned since 2012 as the Bangladesh government has included the fish in the list of export-restricted item. In 2019, Bangladesh had given permission for exporting 500 tonnes of hilsa to India on the eve of Durga Puja following a request made by the West Bengal authorities. In 2020, the government approved export of 1,475 tonnes of hilsa to India.
According to a commerce ministry circular issued on September 20, the export of 2,080 tonnes of hilsa to India will continue till October 10 and the circular issued on Thursday said that the export of 2,520 tonnes would continue till October 3. Commerce minister Tipu Munshi on Monday told New Age that a special permission had been given to export hilsa to India as the greeting of the biggest religious festival to the neighbouring country and it would not put any impact on supply and price of the item on the local market. In the first week of August, the Bangladesh Frozen Foods Exporters Association sent a letter to the commerce ministry, seeking permission to export hilsa. The BFFEA in its letter said that the production of hilsa increased by 79 per cent in the last one decade and the country produced 5.33 lakh tonnes of the fish in the financial year of 2018-19. If the government allows export of only 5 per cent of total hilsa production, it would not put any negative impact on the local market, the letter said.
2021 Media New Age Limited