Despite people’s economic solvency and banking facilities, the demand of reconditioned cars in the country has significantly declined, sources said. According to sources in customs wing of National Board of Revenue, the reconditioned car import declined 29 percent or 9500 units in the just concluded fiscal year (2018-19) in comparison with the previous fiscal through Chattogram and Mongla Sea ports.
Car businesses said due to election year the demand of used cars fell in the last year. Besides, the NBR also cut down duty incentives to the reconditioned car import last fiscal. This duo has significantly put impact on the decrease of old car imports, they said. Chattogram and Mongla Sea ports are the two key routes for importing reconditioned cars.
According to sources, 23,289 units of cars were imported into the country through these two ports in the last fiscal. In the fiscal year 2017-18, a total of 32,820 units of cars were imported through same routes. As per the data of Bangladesh Reconditioned Vehicles Importers & Dealers Association (BARVIDA), most of the old cars are imported into the country from Japan.
According to data of Chattogram and Mongla Sea port authority, a total of 3,38000 old cars were imported into the country in the last 15 years. According to this estimation, on average 22,000 units of cars were imported annually during this period. Sources said there was a significant growth in old car import from the FY05 to FY08. However, the car import rate continuously fell from the FY09 to FY12.
But, the trend of import in the next five years increased exponentially. The customs authority has recently reviewed over which brands of cars’ import fell in the last fiscal. According to data of NBR’s customs wing, some 1500 Cubic Centimeter (CC) car brands including, Axio, Premio, Fielder were imported less 3,139 units in the last fiscal in comparison with the previous fiscal.
A total of 8,772 units of 1500 cc cars were imported in the fiscal 2017-18. According to this estimation, the import of such types of cars fell by 5,593 units or 36 percent in the last fiscal. The import of cars ranging from 1600 to 2000 CC in the last fiscal also fell to 298 units in the just concluded financial year. The figure was 298 in the fiscal 2017-18.
According to sources, the customs wing had to collect Tk 305 crore less as revenue in the last fiscal only from the import of these two CCs cars. BARVIDA president Abdul Haque on Saturday told Bangladesh Post that the NBR indiscriminately slashed the duty incentives to the import of reconditioned cars in the last fiscal, raising the purchase cost of such cars, lowering the demand. “Due to higher duty imposition, the consumers had to pay more to purchase reconditioned cars than new brands,” he said.
