Due to the ongoing conflict in Myanmar's Rakhine state, Teknaf land port's import-export operations have almost come to a standstill. Especially after the Arakan Army captured an area of about 270 km including Maungdoo town, cargo trawlers from Myanmar are unable to reach Teknaf port. Import operations have been almost halted since Maungdoo city fell under the control of the Arakan Army on December 8. Even after paying the price, many traders are not able to bring the products to the country. As a result, apart from business losses, government revenue is also negatively affected. On November 13, 2023, a conflict broke out between Myanmar's junta forces and the rebel Arakan Army.
According to the information provided by the customs authority, the revenue collected from Teknaf land port in the first five months (July-November) of the current fiscal year 2024-25 was only Tk 64 crore 19 lakh; But in the same period of the financial year 2023-24 this income was about Tk 251 crore. Where the average daily revenue was more than Rs 3 crore, it has now come down significantly.
Various types of wood, frozen fish, dry betel nuts, ginger, dried fruit, coconut, pickles etc. are usually imported from Myanmar to Bangladesh. And from Bangladesh to Myanmar go potatoes, plastic products, ready-made clothes, biscuits, chanachur, chips and soft drinks.
Ehteshamul Haque Bahadur, general secretary of Teknaf Landport C&F Agent Association, said that since November 2023, cargo trawlers and ship movements between the two countries have been almost stopped. As a result, the export activities from Bangladesh have stopped completely. Imports and exports with Myanmar's Maungdu port—both closed. However, occasionally, small quantities of goods are imported from Akyab and Yangon. Businessmen are in dire straits.
According to sources of Teknaf land port, 2 lakh 2 thousand 742 tons of goods were handled through Teknaf land port in the fiscal year 2022-23. Among them, the import product was 1 lakh 99 thousand 219 tons and the export product was only 3 thousand 523 tons. In the next financial year 2023-24, the handling comes down to 79 thousand 666 tons. Among them, the import is 78 thousand 557 tons and the export is 1 thousand 409 tons. From July to December of the current fiscal year 2024-25, the import-export volume has further decreased. No product was exported in the months of July, August, October and November of the financial year. 12 thousand 529 tons were imported in July, 2 thousand 273 in August, 1 thousand 647 in September, 1 thousand 166 in October, 2 thousand 296 tons in November and 3 thousand 724 tons were imported in December and only 637 tons were exported.
It is known that although border trade was started in 1995, letter of credit or LC system has not been introduced in import-export yet. Border trade is mainly done through Foreign Demand Draft (FDD). Due to the rise in dollar value and the crisis, the local businessmen face the crisis of FDD. Meanwhile, due to the war in the neighboring country, the businessmen of the country are in a new crisis.
According to the customs data, the revenue collected from Teknaf land port in July of the current financial year 2024-25 is about Tk 7 crore. Apart from this, the revenue of about 25 crores in August, 90 crores in September, 7 crores in October and 160 crores in November has been collected. In the five months from July to November of the last financial year, the revenue was about Tk 40, Tk 49, Tk 48, Tk 66 and Tk 48 crore respectively.
AHM Anwar Hossain, manager of United Land Port, the company managing Teknaf land port, said that earlier, 30 to 35 cargo trawlers and ships from Myanmar used to come to Bangladesh every day. That number has now dropped to one to two a week. Similarly, earlier every day 8 to 10 cargo trawlers from Bangladesh used to go to Myanmar. For 10 months, no cargo trawler has been going to Myanmar.
BM Abdullah Al Masum, customs officer of Teknaf land port, said that due to the internal conflict in Myanmar, the operation of Teknaf port has come to a standstill. This has caused a big collapse in revenue. This problem needs to be solved quickly.
