China’s move to extend duty-free market access for 97 per cent of Bangladeshi products, effective from 1 July 2020, is known to all.
However, Bangladesh is yet to realise the potentials of the same thanks to lack of a diversified product basket, disruption in the global supply chain due to the coronavirus pandemic and readiness according to the duty-free product list.
This was underlined in a recent webinar titled, ‘Prospects of Bangladeshi Products in Chinese Market: How to Realise the Potential of Preferential Treatment’.
Taking part in the webinar organised by Bangladesh’s Export Promotion Bureau (EPB) and the Bangladesh China Chamber of Commerce and Industry, professor M. Abu Eusuf of Dhaka University Development Studies department said the next five years could be very crucial for Bangladesh, and the Chinese market should be the target for the smooth graduation of the country from its LDC status while adding, “We need to make a clear assessment of the products Chinese consumers would like to buy and then we can go for production,” even as United Nations Development Programme economist Nazneen Ahmed on her part underlined that Bangladesh should focus on Chinese investment and the export market equally for a smooth graduation from the LDC status.
Meanwhile, the keynote paper presented by Research Director of the Bangladesh Institute of International and Strategic Studies Mahfuz Kabir showed in the financial year 2020-21 the top five items, including knitwear, woven garments, apart from raw hides and leather, iron, steel and vegetable textile fibre, constituted around 76 per cent of the total exported goods to China.
