Poultry industry seeks tax cuts, exemptions for FY22 budget

The poultry industry of Bangladesh has asked for tax cuts and exemptions for the budget of the 2021-22 fiscal year to recover from the losses made amid the coronavirus pandemic.  

Poultry traders and entrepreneurs have already sent three proposals to the relevant government departments, including the Ministry of Fisheries and Livestock, for the upcoming budget.

These proposals are mainly aimed at enabling the industry to enter the export market by 2025.

The Bangladesh Poultry Industries Central Council (BPICC) has proposed extending all benefits on advance tax, advance income tax, taxes, and duties, VAT, etc. for at least another 10 years, i.e., till 2030.

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It has also proposed to exempt the tax at source on the collection of raw materials from local sources, which is currently between 2-5%.

Poultry entrepreneurs have proposed to reduce the corporate tax for animal feed manufacturers from 15% to 5%, which was 0% earlier. Then it increased to 5% in FY11 and reduced to 3% in FY15. In FY16, it was increased again to 15%.

Industry insiders also proposed to exempt all taxes for the industry for the next 10 years due to instability in the trade between the major countries of the world as the exporting countries have also reduced the raw material exports.

Md Ahsanuzzaman, general secretary of Feeders’ Industries Association of Bangladesh (FIAB), urged the government to revive the poultry industry from the brink of collapse.

“The poultry industry is the source of employment for six million people across the country. We have sent such a proposal to the ministry to protect the poultry industry. We hope that necessary recommendations will be sent to the Ministry of Finance and the National Board of Revenue to provide the proposed facilities,” he added.

Contacted, sources from Breeders’ Association Bangladesh (BAB), World Poultry Science Association (WPSA), and Egg Producers’ Association of Bangladesh (EPAB) expressed support for the BPICC proposal.

According to the BPICC, the industry faced losses of Tk7,000 crore amid the pandemic and the poultry feed industry alone suffered a loss of about Tk529 crore from January to May of this year.

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Furthermore, prices of poultry products reached a 12-year low due to the pandemic, the BPICC said.

According to a survey conducted in June last year, 35-40% of feed production and about 40-50% of sales of medicines and pharmaceutical products used in the production of poultry products declined, the council added.