Kolkata: Fish lovers in India face disappointment this festive season as Bangladesh has decided not to export Hilsa to India during the Durga Puja period and has simultaneously halted imports of the fish from India. The development marks a sharp break from years of established trade practice between the two neighbours.
Every year, the Bangladesh government announces a short export window, typically between September 15 and 20, just before Durga Puja, allowing Indian traders to import a fixed quantity of Hilsa. This year, no such announcement came.
“They have abruptly stopped imports from India. All permits in their country were cancelled through a circular on September 23. Bangladesh is not allowing the import of Hilsa this year. Time has run out,” said Syed Anwar Maqsood, secretary of the Fish Importers Association in Bengal and the Howrah wholesale fish market.
Maqsood added that from October 7, fishermen in Bangladesh will stop catching Hilsa altogether, leaving no time for any trade window to open. He noted that even during Bangladesh’s political upheaval under a caretaker government, Hilsa imports to India were permitted. “This time, we won’t get it,” he said.
Kartik Chakraborty, secretary of the Petrapole Clearing Agents Staff Welfare Association, confirmed that the movement of Hilsa from India to Bangladesh through the Petrapole land port has also stopped. “We do not know what prompted the decision, but it is unprecedented,” he said.
Bangladesh first restricted Hilsa exports to India in 2012. Since 2019, it had lifted those restrictions for a brief Durga Puja window each year. Import volumes over the years ranged from 500 metric tonnes in 2019 to a peak of 1,850 metric tonnes in 2020, before declining to 150 metric tonnes last year.
In a notable role reversal, India exported over 500 metric tonnes of Hilsa to Bangladesh through Petrapole over the past two months. A large share of those consignments originated from Gujarat, particularly the Bharuch region, with additional supplies from the Howrah wholesale fish market. Indian Hilsa with high roe content is in strong demand in Chattogram, Sylhet, and other Bangladeshi districts.
In August, a delegation from the Fish Importers Association travelled to Dhaka and met Bangladesh’s Commerce Secretary Ataur Rehman Khan, urging him to lift the export ban. The appeal appears to have had no effect.
