Bangladesh News

As Bangladesh Paper Mills Association’s demanded 100 percent duty on newsprint imports, Newspaper Owners’ Association of Bangladesh (Noab) yesterday urged the government to keep zero tariff on newsprint imports to ensure press freedom and free flow of information.

Expressing concern, Noab in a statement said the demand for imposing 100 percent duty on newsprint import is part of a conspiracy to destroy the country’s newspaper industry. The free flow of information will be disrupted if the demand is met.

“This industry will fall into a deep crisis and newspapers will have to face financial crises if the import cost is increased,” the statement read. “It will not be possible for the newspapers to survive independently if the demand is met,” it said.

Noab said the fate of journalists and workers involved in this industry will be uncertain because 80 percent of newspapers’ spending goes to newsprint purchase.

It will be difficult for them to bear the extra expenditure and no newspaper will be able to give their staff their due wages and salaries as per rules, it added.

Following a long-standing Noab demand, import duty on newsprint was brought down to zero from 30 percent in 2007-2008 fiscal year’s budget, the statement said, adding, “We are giving 19 percent [tax 15 percent, income tax three percent and PSI one percent] of the cost of imported newsprint to the government exchequer according to the rules.”

The newspapers are implementing the Seventh Wage Board from June 8, 2008 with the condition of zero percent import duty. For this, the cost of the newspaper institutions has increased greatly, the statement added.

“As there is scope for importing newsprint without duty, the newspapers are somehow bearing this increased cost but if 100 percent duty is imposed on newsprint imports, this will be possible no more.”

The statement further said no newspaper will be able to provide the due wages and salaries to its staff according to the Seventh Wage Board if 100 percent duty is imposed on newsprint imports.

Noab said the Bangladesh Newsprint Mills Association demands that it is made mandatory for newspapers to buy 50 percent of their required newsprint from the local market. If their demand is met then newspapers will have to buy low quality local newsprint at a high cost while the remaining 50 percent of the newsprint will be imported at higher price since it will be imported with 100 percent duty, Noab argued.

Noab hoped that the government would continue with the present system of importing newsprint without duty in order to keep the newspapers independent and free flow of information undisturbed.

The experience of newspapers is that the quality of local newsprint is far inferior to that of the imported ones, it said, adding the local newsprint mills do not pay attention to improving their product’s quality.

The price of each tonne of local newsprint is Tk 50,000 while the price of one tonne of foreign newsprint is Tk 42,500, the statement read.

Mentioning the issues of printing on substandard local newsprint, Noab said local newsprint causes newsprint wastage, which eventually costs newspapers money.

It said obligatory newsprint quota system was introduced in 2001 and newspapers were forced to purchase poor quality local newsprint.

Despite this, the newspaper mills of the country could not achieve the desired quality of newspapers till 2007-08 fiscal year, it added.

With the budget approaching, they are again trying to force the newspapers buy their low-quality newsprint at a high cost, the statement said, adding, “We think the local newspaper mills will have to be competitive in the market by achieving the desired quality of newsprint.”

“We can in no way support the move of local newsprint mills to force newspapers buy their poor quality newsprint at their usual price,” it added.

The government should not make any decision that will destroy the present state of the country’s newspaper industry achieved through long and arduous struggle, it said, adding, “We are seeking the government’s assistance for the sake of the country’s free and independent mass media.”