Bangladesh
Govt decides to permit hilsa export to India.

Govt decides to permit hilsa export to India

Bangladesh

The government has decided to give permission for exporting 5,000 tonnes of hilsa to India on the eve of Durga Puja, the biggest religious festival of the Hindu community. Commerce minister Tipu Munshi on Thursday said that like previous years a special permission would be given to export hilsa to India as a greeting of the biggest religious festival to the neighbouring country.

At a press conference held at the Bangladesh Secretariat on price of essential commodities, the minister said that hilsa was not a regular export item rather the government allowed the export as a token of good gesture to people of the neighbouring country.

‘As of today, some 65 exporters have filed application with the ministry seeking permission for exporting hilsa to India. After getting more application the ministry would issue permission through proper scrutiny,’ the commerce minister said.

Replying to a question, Tipu Munshi said that the yearly production of hilsa in Bangladesh was 6 lakh tonnes and the export permission for only 5,000 tonnes would not put any impact on supply and price of the item on the local market.

The prices of hilsa continued to rise in the country for past few years and majority of the people remained deprived of the taste of the fish.

The price of hilsa this year also remained high even though peak fishing season was going on.

Hilsa weighing about 1 kilogram was sold for Tk 1,400 to Tk 1,500 and the item weighing below 1 kilogram was being sold at Tk 850 to Tk 900 a kilogram on the city markets.