Imports through the Chittagong Port in the first 10 months of fiscal 2020-2021 have exceeded that of the entire previous fiscal.
With two months left in the current financial year, over 94.24 lakh tonnes more goods have been imported through Chittagong port — Chittagong Port is the prime seaport of Bangladesh — compared to the last fiscal year even if exports have dropped.
This was underlined by media reports, which cited the concerned authorities to maintain that the port handled 9.67 crore tonnes of import cargo in the first ten months of the current financial year even as it handled more than 8.72 crore tonnes of import cargo in fiscal 2019-20 (more than 8.29 crore tonnes in fiscal 2018-19, and more than 7.8 crore tonnes in fiscal 2017-18) while it handled over 6.64 crore tonnes of import cargo in fiscal 2016-17 even as the volume stood over 5.83 crore tonnes in fiscal 2015-16 and the volume was over 4.89 crore tonnes in fiscal 2014-15.
Although imports have increased, exports have declined, reportedly, maintained the President of the Chittagong Chamber of Commerce and Industry Mahbubul Alam, even as he expressed hope that exports would also increase if the coronavirus situation gets back to normal.
Meanwhile, as per available data, more than 66.85 lakh tonnes of goods were exported through Chittagong port in fiscal 2019-2020 and more than 68.46 lakh tonnes in the previous fiscal year while in the last financial year, the export volume decreased by more than 2 lakh tonnes compared to the previous fiscal year.
Besides, in fiscal 2017-18, over 69.97 lakh tonnes of goods were exported while the volume of export was over 67.9 lakh tonnes in fiscal 2016-17, over 59.71 lakh tonnes in fiscal 2015-16 and over 58.39 lakh tonnes in fiscal 2014-15.
