Agro product exports to UK resume 

Bangladesh has resumed exporting agricultural products to the United Kingdom after a one-month stoppage due to the only quality checking scanner at Dhaka airport not working.

Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport sources said the UK only allows vegetables to cross its borders that are scanned by an Explosive Detection Scanner (EDS) it has authorised.

The export of agricultural products to the UK has been at a standstill since 9 March as the lone quality checking scanner at the airport went out of order.

According to exporters, the cargo bay at Dhaka airport had four EDSs and two X-ray scanners to send goods to European countries. Of those, two scanners at the airport are approved by the UK Department of Transport.

One of them has been dead for long, and the others have frequently broken down , causing a disruption in exports, they added.

SMA Zahangir Hossain, president of Bangladesh Fruits, Vegetables and Allied Products Exporters' Association, said it is difficult to send products to different countries of Europe given frequent scanner problems.

It was the fourth time in a span of just seven months that the scanner developed problems.

Exporters said Bangladesh risks losing the UK vegetable market with the scanner at Dhaka airport out of order and that the market for Bangladeshi produce is gradually going down due to the scanner problem.

If there is no continuity of exports, exporters from other countries automatically grab the market, they added.