[🇧🇩] Trump's Victory/Tariff/ Bangladesh

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Never saw such crisis in 40 years: AK Azad

AK Azad, managing director of Ha-Meem Group, said he has never seen such a crisis in export sector in his 40 years of business experience.

en.prothomalo.com

Never saw such crisis in 40 years: AK Azad
Staff Correspondent Dhaka
Published: 20 Jul 2025, 16: 17

AK Azad, managing director of Ha-Meem Group Prothom Alo

AK Azad, one of the country’s leading exporters, a prominent business leader, and the Managing Director of Ha-Meem Group, said he has never seen such a crisis in the export sector in his 40 years of business experience.

He said, “We businesspeople have brought this sector to a respectable position, but now we are disappointed and frustrated.”

Sharing his experience from a recent meeting with a brand partner, AK Azad said, “A major brand called me to their head office and informed me that they tried to understand the position of the Bangladesh government through their own government. Their comment was: ‘Your position is weak; no good outcomes are expected.’” This made AK Azad frustrated.

In response to the situation, AK Azad called several advisers. He said, all of them took the issue seriously. The next day, the commerce adviser called him and said that apparently, Azad’s actions created a stir, and everyone was now calling the commerce adviser.

AK Azad further said that the adviser told him 95 per cent of the issues had already been resolved. The remaining 5 per cent were being worked on with various ministries. What that businesspeople would do by joining various discussions. He argued that even if the government loses revenue of Tk 20-30 billion, the country would benefit more if there is an additional export of USD 5 billion. He believes that this initiative will succeed.

Given the current context, AK Azad highlighted the buyers’ positions, saying, “One of my buyers emailed me saying that if the tariff imposed on Bangladesh starting from 1 August is not lifted, I will have to bear 35 per cent of the tariff myself. The question is—how am I supposed to bear that cost?”

AK Azad cited his experience from Indonesia. He said, “I have a joint venture in Indonesia. There, the government and businesses work together. They appointed lobbyists and engaged in discussions at every level. But in Bangladesh, we did not get such an opportunity.”

On the topic of the interim government’s tenure, AK Azad said, “You are saying that you are in charge for seven or eight months, and then you will leave. But where will we go then? To whom are you handing us over?”

AK Azad added, “Everyone thinks that there is someone above us who will blow a whistle and all problems will vanish. Because of this belief, we are not being evaluated at all; there is no thought of appointing any lobbyists either.”

Yesterday, Saturday, the government announced that the USTR (Office of the United States Trade Representative) will not determine tariffs. That it will be decided by the Trump administration. Addressing the government, AK Azad said, “If you can, please try to act at that level.”

The government said that they have already started the process of appointing lobbyists and taking other necessary steps quickly. But AK Azad said, “At this point, we do not even know how far we can go or what can be achieved by appointing lobbyists. Bangladesh is going through such a difficult situation.”​

 

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MoU signed for US wheat import amid tariff threats

Bangladesh on Sunday signed a memorandum of understanding with the United States to import 7 lakh tonnes of wheat annually for the next five years amid the threat of facing 35 per cent US tariff on its exports from the next month...

www.newagebd.net

MoU signed for US wheat import amid tariff threats
Staff Correspondent 21 July, 2025, 00:08

Food adviser Ali Imam Majumder, among others, poses for a photo after the signing of a memorandum of understanding with the United States for importing wheat at the ministry in Dhaka on Sunday. | Focus Bangla photo

Bangladesh on Sunday signed a memorandum of understanding with the United States to import 7 lakh tonnes of wheat annually for the next five years amid the threat of facing 35 per cent US tariff on its exports from the next month.

The US is pressing Bangladesh to reduce the trade gap, which is in favour of Bangladesh, by importing more US products to get a favourable tariff deal. Dhaka is negotiating with Washington for reducing the tariff rate to a tolerable level to safeguard its exports to the US market. Bangladesh is waiting for the third round of tariff talks with the US as the previous two rounds failed to resolve key issues, including the tariff rate.


The MoU was signed by Md Abul Hasanat Humayun Kabir, director general of the Food Department, and Joseph K Sower, vice-president of the US Wheat Association, in the capital Dhaka on Sunday.

Food adviser Ali Imam Majumder told New Age that the MoU was not a binding agreement.New age services

‘Still, the MoU will provide an opportunity for building trust and a wider area of mutual trade cooperation between Bangladesh and the US amid negotiations over tariff issues between the two trading partners,’ he said.

On July 8, US president Donald Trump imposed 35 per cent tariff on Bangladeshi export products, effective from August 1, on top of sectoral tariffs of up to 15 per cent.

The country’s overall exports to the US were $8.4 billion in 2024, with the readymade garments accounting for $7.34 billion. In the year, the country imported US goods worth $2.2 billion.

The interim government is considering measures to increase imports from the US to reduce the trade gap, Ali Imam said.

He also said the price of wheat would be set later on the government-to-government negotiation.

Bangladesh imports wheat mainly from Russia, Ukraine, Canada, Brazil, Argentina, Australia, but shipments from Ukraine have decreased since the war with Russia began in 2022.

Bangladesh Bank data showed that the country imported wheat worth about $635.8 million in FY24.

Food ministry officials said that the proposed amount of wheat was about 10 per cent of the country’s annual demand of 70 lakh tonnes with private sector importers such as City Group, Meghna Group, Bashundhara Group, Nabil Group, Sheikh Brothers, and Sainik Group leading the wheat import amid growing demand.

Aminul Islam, managing director of Nabil Group, said that the local private wheat importers were shy of the US wheat market because of high content of protein and relatively high price.

He calculated that fright charge would be additional maximum $3 to $4 per tonne for importing wheat by the government from the US than the other markets.

In the fortnight ending May 9, export prices of the US (Soft Red Winter), the US (Hard Red Winter), Russian, and Ukrainian wheat decreased by 2.9 per cent, 3.1 per cent, 1.6 per cent and 0.8 per cent to $213 a tonne, $240 a tonne, $246 a tonne, and $248 a tonne respectively.

The domestic wheat production has almost halved over the past two decades as farmers shifted to more profitable crops like maize, potatoes, vegetables and boro rice.

In the current financial year of 2025-26, the government has planned to import 15 lakh tonnes of rice and wheat from global markets at an estimated cost of Tk 7,800 crore. It had imported 10.05 lakh tonnes of rice and wheat worth Tk 5,800 crore in the past financial year.

Of the proposed import from the international sources, rice will account for 9 lakh tonnes and wheat 6 lakh tonnes.

In 2023, Bangladesh imported wheat worth $823 million. It imported wheat mainly from Canada ($428m), Ukraine ($171m), Romania ($105m), Brazil ($50.7m) and Australia ($45.1m), according to the Observatory of Economic Complexity, an online data visualisation platform under the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Earlier on April 3, the US had imposed a steep 37 per cent ‘reciprocal’ tariff on Bangladeshi exports, but on April 9, the US president declared a pause on the tariff for three months.

After the pause announcement, Bangladesh had held the first round of negotiations with the US over the tariff rate.​