Car importers urge halt to Mongla port auction
Mongla Customs House has scheduled an auction for the last week of May
Bangladesh Reconditioned Vehicles Importers and Dealers Association (Barvida) has requested the Mongla Customs House to halt an auction of imported cars until December this year considering adversities in business during the pandemic.
The trade body made the demand in response to a letter from the customs authorities on Wednesday which mentioned the auction has been scheduled for the last week of May.
"Such a hurried auction may affect automobile businesses financially and it may hamper the market stability. Banks' investments in the automobile sector may also suffer an uncertainty," reads a Barvida statement on Wednesday.
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It said the pandemic has created a negative impact on the automobile business in the last one year and the businesses have absorbed huge losses due to the general holidays and lockdowns.
In the statement, the business leaders said the automobile sector was out of stimulus packages though the sector contributes a huge revenue to the national exchequer.
The port authorities tend to sell out imported goods if the importers do not get those released in time.
Car importers, due to congestion in their outlets and financial hardship, are mostly missing their deadlines to get the vehicles released from the port yards since the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic in the country last year.
