India restricts imports of jute, its derivatives from Bangladesh

India has imposed port restrictions on the import of jute and several other of its derivatives from Bangladesh, with rapid impact, an official from Directorate Common of International Commerce (DGFT) mentioned.

The restriction have been placed on flax tow and waste (together with yarn waste and garnetted inventory); jute and different textile bast fibers, uncooked or retted; jute (excluding flax, true hemp and ramie); single flax yarn; single yarn of jute or of different textile bast fibers; a number of folded; woven materials or flax; and unbleached woven materials of jute or of different textile primarily based fibers.

Import of such gadgets from Bangladesh shall not be allowed from any land port on India-Bangladesh border, DGFT mentioned. Nevertheless, it’s allowed solely via Nhava Sheva seaport in Mumbai.
In response to DGFT notification dated June 27, these restrictions, nonetheless, won’t apply to Bangladeshi exports to Nepal and Bhutan transiting via India.

However, re-export of such Bangladeshi items to India from Nepal or Bhutan won’t be allowed, DGFT added.

On Could 17, India had imposed restrictions on the import of Bangladeshi ready-made clothes (RMG) and different merchandise via its northeastern land ports — Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura, Mizoram — and Fulbari and Changrabandha in West Bengal, weeks after controversial remarks made by Bangladesh’s interim chief advisor Muhammad Yunus in regards to the India’s northeastern area, throughout his go to to China.

Throughout a speech in China, Bangladesh’s Chief Adviser Yunus had described India’s northeastern states as a “landlocked area with no entry to the ocean.” This remark has sparked diplomatic friction, with Indian officers viewing it as undermining the area’s connectivity.

The Could 17 restrictions pressured Bangladesh to reroute exports — together with Prepared-Made clothes (RMG), plastics, melamine, furnishings, juices, carbonated drinks, bakery gadgets, confectionery, and processed meals — via Kolkata port in West Bengal or Nhava Sheva port in Maharashtra, sharply growing logistics prices.

The directive made clear that imports of important gadgets like fish, LPG, edible oil, and crushed stone stay unaffected. Items transiting via India from Bangladesh to Nepal and Bhutan had been additionally exempt.

The Centre had imposed land port restrictions on sure Bangladeshi exports to the northeastern states, a transfer that sources had then mentioned was geared toward restoring “equality within the relationship”.

The sources had additional mentioned that whereas India had hitherto allowed all exports from Bangladesh with out restrictions, the transit and market entry to India’s northeast area had been restricted by Bangladesh. The sources additional mentioned that the connection with Bangladesh will now be on “reciprocal phrases”.

India limiting imports from Bangladesh to solely two seaports, in line with the sources, was a reciprocal measure to Bangladesh — which had imposed related commerce restrictions on Indian yarn and rice, moreover selectively enhancing inspection on all Indian items exported to Bangladesh.

The sources additional famous that Bangladesh wanted to understand that “it can not cherry decide phrases of bilateral commerce solely for its profit or assume North East is a captive marketplace for its exports, whereas denying it market entry and transit.”