Sukanta Halder

Eid-ul-Azha is knocking at the doors as Muslims are all set to celebrate the holy festival on July 10.

Leather, leather goods and footwear exports from Bangladesh reached a 10-year-high in the just concluded fiscal year thanks to the arrival of orders that shifted away from competitors, according to industry players.

It is not any other Eid for many middle and lower-middle income families. They are cutting down expenses for the festival in the face of spiralling living costs.

The price of rawhide is now lower compared to that two to three months ago for which the traders of Savar’s Harindhara bazar, one of the country’s hubs for raw leather, are worried over what lied in wait for them in upcoming Eid-ul-Azha.

Bangladesh keeps losing out on tapping its vastly unutilised cattle rawhides as the central effluent treatment plant (CETP) at the Savar Tannery Industrial Estate is not fully ready yet.

Edible oil refiners have cut soybean oil prices up to Tk 6 a litre though the consumers rights organisation said the rates should have been reduced by at least Tk 30 amid falling prices of the item in the global market.

With just around two weeks left for Eid-ul-Azha, price of unrefined salt has shot up, at least in the wholesale hub of Narayanganj’s Nitaiganj, in what appears to be an attempt at cashing in on the upcoming seasonal rise in demand for preserving hides of sacrificial animals.

Padma Bridge will not only increase connectivity in Bangladesh, but also revolutionise the industrial landscape in southern parts of the country by creating new business avenue of opportunities, according to various entrepreneurs.

Refrigerator manufacturers and retailers in Bangladesh have come up with numerous offers to lure in customers ahead of Eid-ul-Azha, the biggest sales season for home appliances in the country.

The SMEF Suppliers Platform for Women Entrepreneurs has been created in collaboration with the World Bank and SME Foundation to support the sale of products produced by women entrepreneurs to corporate houses in Bangladesh.

The National Board of Revenue (NBR) has extended for another year a value added tax (VAT) reduction for local liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) cylinder manufacturers, who believe it would help keep fuel prices low against rising demand.

The leading chambers and trade body leaders have praised the government for fixing the priority areas of development, but they also said controlling inflation will be biggest headache for the Sheikh Hasina administration in the next fiscal year.

The government yesterday increased the price of soybean oil by Tk 5 to Tk 7 per litre, dashing the hopes of the edible oil market in Bangladesh cooling off anytime soon.

The prices of specialised wheelchair for the physically challenged may fall in the next fiscal year as the finance minister today proposed abolishing all kinds of taxes at the import stage of the item.

Coffee prices may rise as the finance minister today proposed imposing 20 per cent supplementary duty on processed and ready-to-consume coffee.

Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal has proposed reducing the import duty on wheat gluten and sugarcane molasses to ensure supply of protein and dietary sugars at a lower price, thereby reducing production costs of the livestock industry.

The government has cut the fine by half in the case of failure of filing value-added tax (VAT) and turnover tax returns by the due date.

The cost of living has gone up but the incomes of most consumers have not. It is not just the prices of edible oil and rice that are hurting, it’s almost everything they need in the kitchen every day.

Exporters in Bangladesh raked in more than $1 billion in the shipment of leather, leather goods and footwear in the first 11 months of the current fiscal year despite a slowdown in May owing to supply chain disruptions and the fallout of the Russia-Ukraine war, official figures showed.

Even though prices of loose palm and soybean oil have dropped in wholesale markets, consumers are not being able to reap the benefits as retailers are still selling those at the government-fixed prices.