The New Nation - Internet Edition

Staff Reporter

Trade gap between Bangladesh and China is widening alarmingly and it crossed more than two and a half billion dollars in the last financial year, according to the statistics available.

'Bangladesh's trade deficit with China is rising alarmingly with Bangladesh importing goods worth US$ 2534 million from China against exporting only a meagre US$ 93 million to that country in fiscal 2006-07," said Salahuddin Abdullah, acting president of Dhaka Chamber of Commerce and Industry (DCCI) while speaking at a business meeting with a business delegation from China yesterday.

Low-cost Chinese products are making Bangladesh more dependent on the Asian economic giant, contributing to a widening trade gap of more than one and a half billion dollars between the two countries in just six months of the current fiscal year.

Local business leaders observed that trade relations between Bangladesh and India are marked by huge imbalance in favour of China, and Bangladesh has also become unable to bridge this huge trade gap with its very short export list.

Expressing deep concern over the increasing trade gap between Bangladesh and China, the business community leaders felt that the existing trade deficit was absolutely unsustainable.

Bangladesh now imports raw cotton, boilers, machinery and mechanical appliances, knitted fabrics, man-made staple fibre and man-made filament, electric machinery and equipment, fertiliser, buses and covered vans, organic chemicals and special woven fabrics from China, according to the Bangladesh Bank. Even, lots of Chinese readymade garments are now available in local market.

On the other hand, China imports raw jute, leather, frozen foods, jute and jute goods and chemicals from Bangladesh.

The business leaders noted that import from China surged mainly due to its wide range of products and prices.

Although China has been the dominating source of woven fabrics and raw cotton for long, all types of machinery and electronics imports from China have also gone up in the recent times.

In terms of price, Chinese products are unbeatable no matter how their quality is. There are high-quality Chinese products, but they are hardly being imported, participants at the business meeting said.

They observed that Chinese goods are cheaper compared to the same standard products of India. China offers goods with wide price range and importers cling to China because of its easy trade procedure and speedy shipment.

According to DCCI leaders, China usually sends its products to Bangladesh within 25 days on an average by completing all the formalities while import from India takes 35 days.

The business meeting was organised by the DCCI at its auditorium at Motijheel in the city which was attended by a 21-member business delegation from China Chamber of Commerce for Import and Export of Textiles (CCCT), Beijing China.

Cao Xin Yu, vice-chairman and leader of the delegation from CCCT and Lin Weiquiang, Commercial Counsellor from the Embassy of China in Dhaka also spoke on the occasion.

The DCCI acting president said Bangladesh has strong determination to reduce huge trade gap with China.

He said Bangladesh has competitiveness in RMG sector. China-Bangladesh cooperation could work better if Chinese investment for establishing backward linkage industries in the field of textile and clothing could be attracted. Bangladesh has done excellent progress in the knit sector also, and Chinese cooperation can give further boost to these sectors. Jute based- textiles can also be planned to explore for future expansion.

Bangladesh offers conducive investment climate compared to the other South Asian economies. Geographical location of the country is ideal for global trades with very convenient access to international sea and air routes. Bangladesh can be treated as the gateway to bridge between Asian and SAARC nations.

As an LDC, Bangladesh enjoys preferential and duty-free quota free market access to various country's market including EU, Canada, Australia, Japan, India, Pakistan, Thailand, Korea etc. Chinese entrepreneurs with their vast entrepreneurial expertise and technology can help Bangladesh to meet their supply-side constraints.

Because of the changes in perceptions and emerging new situation of global market policies larger German and UK buyer have shown their interest to purchase all types of textile and apparel products from Bangladesh. By establishing joint venture initiatives in Bangladesh, China can take indirect to diversify its new and old market, Salahuddin said.

Leader of the Chinese business delegation Cao Xin Yu said Chinese investment in Bangladesh increased by 20 per cent in ready-made garment sector because the consumption of readymade dresses has increased in China. 'We are trying to find out opportunities to invest in Bangladesh," he said.

He also requested the business community of Bangladesh to create a favourable business atmosphere in Bangladesh to attract more investment from China.

A DCCI member made a proposal to the Chinese delegation to invest in mushroom production in Bangladesh.

Terming the meeting fruitful Salahuddin said they would be able to encourage Chinese delegation to invest more in Bangladesh for reducing huge trade gap between the two countries in near future.