Potential Markets

Bangladesh

Bangladesh is one the closest neighbor of Nepal besides India and China. Commodities trading between Nepal and Bangladesh has been increasing for some time. Both the countries are members of the South Asia Free Trade Area (SAFTA) Agreement, thus, many of the traded commodities are duty-free provided they are not in the individual country’s negative list.

Exporting to Bangladesh

First, find a trade partner –that is registered importer—in Bangladesh. Although there is no obligatory import license for the importers, for certain types of products it is necessary to obtain an import license from the Office of Chief Controller of Imports and Exports. Depending on the product, the license can be either automatic or non-automatic. If the product is not subject to licensing or to specific sanitary/phytosanitary or technical measures, importers can submit import declaration directly to Bangladesh’s Customs.

Import declarations, which are submitted at the regional Customs office, require following documents

• Letter of Credit (L/C).
• Invoice
• Bill of Lading/AWB/Truck Receipt/Railway Receipt
• Packing List
• Country of Origin
• Insurance policy/cover note
• VAT/BIN Certificate

Bangladesh’s Customs also allows submission of a pre-arrival Customs declaration.  This can be done within seven working days prior to the date of arrival of the goods following the same procedures as a normal declaration. 

Before exporting goods to Bangladesh make sure that they do not fall into the category of prohibited goods. Click here to find the list of prohibited goods.

Importing animal, plant and food products to Bangladesh

All of the imported animals, plants and plant products shall have to obtain quarantine certificate for customs clearance.

Importers need to submit following documents to obtain Phytosanitary Certificate from Department of Agriculture Extension (DAE)

• Application Form
• Trade License
• Export Registration Certificate (ERC)
• Packing list
• Invoice
• VAT Registration Certificate
• Tax Identification Number (TIN) Certificate
• Treasury Challan

These documents are submitted to the Plant Quarantine Officer of the Regional office of DAE where Plant Quarantine Officer verifies the documents and sends to the Plant Inspector Officer, who then conducts the inspection and submits the report to be issued the Certificate on the basis of the report.

Similarly, a certificate from the Bangladesh Standard and Testing Institution is necessary to clear 55 items for which BSTI certification is mandatory, as per Import Policy Order, 2015-2018 Para 26(28) if the import consignment does not have a certificate from an accredited laboratory in the exporting country. Please see the list of items here and procedure to get the certificate here.

For more information on exporting to Bangladesh, you can visit Bangladesh Trade Information Portal. You can find useful information and links through the Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry.