The Ministry of Commerce has published a complete English list of HS codes and names of Bangladeshi products which will get duty-free and quota-free access to the Chinese market. The list, released on Sunday (20 March), contains 8,930 HS codes, as well as related product names. However, Bangladesh will not get duty and quota-free facilities for all of them. Bangladeshi exporters will get facilities on 98% of the products on this list. According to the Commerce Ministry officials, the publication of names and HS codes in English will make it easier for traders to avail the benefits.
According to the sources, China has given duty-free access to 98% of the products on its import list to Bangladesh as a least developed country. This facility has been effective from 1 July 2020. On 16 June 2020, the Chinese State Council’s Tariff Commission published a list of the products in Chinese. Later this year a partial list was published in English. Now the full list has been published. It shows that China imports 8,930 HS coded products from the world market. Of these, 8,751 HS-coded Bangladeshi products are tax-free and quota-free. Bangladesh will get this facility till 2024. In order to enjoy duty-free and quota-free access to exports to the Chinese market, the terms of the Rules of Origin require that 40% of the export value be added locally or the four-digit HS code of the product be changed.
All garments products, the main export product of Bangladesh, will get duty-free export facilities in the Chinese market. At one time, Bangladesh received duty-free access to 61% of Chinese imports. Not all ready-made garments products (woven and knit) will get duty-free facilities. Woven garments have a total of 167 HS codes and knit garments have 132 HS codes. Woven garments’ 117 HS codes and knit garments’ 88 HS codes were included in the duty-free facility at the previous 61%. But now all the products are getting this facility as the duty-free facility has been increased to 98%.
Apart from this, jute and jute products, fish, leather products, optical and surgical instruments, home textile products are also getting duty-free access to the Chinese market. The lion’s share of leather, footwear, cotton, and cotton yarn products also enjoy duty-free access to the markets of the world’s most populous country.
According to the Export Promotion Bureau, in the first seven months of the current fiscal year 2021-22 (July to January), Bangladesh exported various products worth 42 crores 61 lacs, and 46 thousand dollars to China. During the same period of the last fiscal year 2020-21, the amount of these exports was 38 crores 80 lacs and 70 thousand dollars.
The products that have to enter the Chinese market by paying taxes are not specially exported from Bangladesh. Most of these products are agricultural products. These include rice, wheat, maize, sugar, palm oil, animal feed, tobacco and tobacco products, and mineral and chemical fertilisers. In addition, boards made of rice and wheat straw, newsprint, paper, and various products made from paper, tissue paper, tracing paper, cigarette paper, hospital bed sheets, and other such products, various types of wool, cotton waste will have to be exported by paying taxes.
