Hilsa (river shad) exports to India has remained suspended since February 19 as the Bangladesh exporters and the Indian importers have failed to reach an understanding on Indians' demand for price-cut. In addition, Bangladesh is losing market to Myanmar and Thailand as Indian importers are gradually inclining to those countries, said local exporters, meaning that time has arrived for the government of Bangladesh to settle the dispute as quick as possible over reduction of price.

Earlier Indian Hilsa importers had threatened to stop import of the said fish from Bangladesh if price thereof as demanded by them was not reduced. From February 19, not a single kilogram of Hilsa has been exported to India, said Ajit Das Monu, President, and M Yunus Sikdar, Secretary, of Bangladesh Fish Exporters' Association (BFEA) Barisal Chapter, on Sunday.

Belayet Hossain, Assistant Manager of the Barisal Fish-Landing Port of Bangladesh Fishing Development Corporation, and Mihir Kanti, a clearing and forwarding agent doing business at Benapole Land Port, admitted the stalemate.

They said that Atul Das, Chairman of Hilsa Importers' Association of West Bengal, sent a letter to president and secretary of BFEA and the commerce ministry of the government of Bangladesh, asking for considering their demand for price cut.

The Indian importers had earlier informed them over phone about the decision and said that a copy of the letter signed by Syed Anwar Maksud, Secretary of the association, had been sent to the Bangladesh Commerce Minister on February 10. In the letter, Indian Hilsa importers said that for the last 15 years price of Hilsa had been fixed through negotiations between the exporters and importers concerned. But from April 12, 2008, Indian importers were forced to buy Hilsa from Bangladesh at higher prices fixed by the Bangladesh commerce ministry.

Such a price fixation is against the open market policy and importers are facing losses in competition with traders who import Hilsa from Orissa, Gujarat and Maharastra of India, the Indian importers claimed. 'Previously, we tried to get Pranab Mukherjee, Foreign Minister of India, to include the issue of reducing export price of Hilsa from Bangladesh on his agenda of discussion with the Bangladesh government and also to include a member of the association in his visiting team, but we failed,' the letter said.

'In this situation, we have no alternative but to stop import of non-frozen Hilsa from Bangladesh,' the Indian importers' association added. The Bangladeshi exporters quoting reports received from India said Bangladesh loosing that potential Hilsa market to Myanmar and Thailand as those countries exporting Hilsa in cheaper rate than Bangladesh and Indian importers marketing those branding as 'Hilsa from Padma of Bangladesh'.

The Bangladesh government on April 12, 2008 fixed the minimum price of Hilsa weighing between 600 grams and one kg at six dollars per kg, that between one kg to 1.5 kg at eight dollars and that weighing over 1.5 kg at 12 dollars.

Exporters' association sources said that after the price hike 21,13,636 kg of Hilsa fish had been exported to India between July 6, 2008 and February 18, 2009 through the Benapole land port.

The export volume was three times higher than that during the same period of the previous fiscal year, they added. Bangladeshi Hilsa exporters said if the Indian traders stopped importing Hilsa from Bangladesh, it would make an adverse impact on their businesses, as the export earnings would decline and prices would also fall on the local market.

Non-frozen Hilsa from Bangladesh is exported not only to India but also to other countries of the world. So, besides fixation of price, exporters need incentives, like soft-term loan for establishing fish-processing and packaging plants to help frozen Hilsa export grow as well as to face the threats of Indian importers, exporters observed.

Source: The Bangladesh Today