The single country source policy, designed to regulate agrochemical imports is being flagrantly bypassed by traders, giving them an unfair advantage over local manufacturers to produce and supply agrochemical products locally.
The single country source favours import by traders even from multiple sources under false certification while it stifles local manufacturers to grow and replace imports.
Industry sources said this policy, intended to ensure all agrochemicals are imported from a designated and verified source, has become a tool for traders to manipulate the market while manufacturers, who strictly follow the rules, are left at a disadvantage.
Introduced during the 68th meeting of the Pesticide Technical Advisory Committee (PTAC) in 2014, the policy requires both traders and manufacturers to import agrochemicals from a single source, with all documents verified by the Ministry of Agriculture.
However, while manufacturers strictly adhere to the policy, this process is cumbersome and time-consuming. It delays the release of their imported goods, directly affecting their production timelines. Traders, on the other hand, have found ways to bypass the rules, importing from multiple sources while officially declaring a single supplier.
This allows them to flood the market faster and at lower prices, undermining local production, critics say. Traders secured their trading licenses in 1989, giving them decades of dominance in the market.
Meanwhile, local manufacturers though received their manufacturing licenses also decades ago for local production was not enjoying a plain field in the face of import dominance by traders who get ample time to entrench their influence over government bodies.
Organizations such as Bangladesh Crop Protection Association (BCPA) have played a critical role in this dominance, using their influence within the PTAC to shape policies that favor importers, market insiders said.
A recent case highlighted the extent of traders' disregard to misuse the single source rule. The case study shows PTAC chairman requested Chattogram Customs Authority to release a shipment of agrochemicals imported he imported from various sources, clearly breaching the single-source regulation.
Although the customs authorities initially seized the shipment, it was later released with fines imposed on the violators.
However, sector insiders allege that some traders, including the BCPA chairman himself, escaped full accountability as certain breaches were omitted from the customs penalty list, the sector insiders alleged.
It creates a double standard. While manufacturers are forced to follow stringent single-source rule, traders easily bypass it, sourcing from multiple suppliers and importing at lower costs. The result is a market where traders dominate market and manufacturers struggle to exist and compete, further stifling local production and encouraging reliance on imports.
The Ministry of Agriculture has wrote a letter to PTAC to open the source of import but its efforts have been undermined by traders' influence within PTAC, a source in the sector alleged.
The policy, instead of creating level playing field, has become another tool for traders to maintain their dominance and stifle the growth of local agrochemical manufacturers.
BCPA president M Sayeduzzaman confessed that there were breaching of the rule and he admitted that he released his goods by paying penalty. But he denied omitting his company name from the customs penalty list.
