In the recent years, Bangladesh has been importing traditional and non-traditional fruits from various destinations to meet the growing local demand. In the last fiscal year 2018-19, the fruit import value was Tk 23,9 bln (€257.4 mln). According to Agriculture Department data, the import of fruit increased 72 percent from FY 2015 to 2019.
The local producers are meeting only 30 percent of the local demand while the remaining 70 percent fruits are importing from different destinations.
According to the Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute (Bari), 5.07 million tons of fruits of 70 types are produced at 0.16 million hectares of land, which is less than 1 per cent of the total cultivable land in the country.
However, the country has a demand of 11.68 million tons of fruits, putting the deficit at 6.6 million tons. According to Bangladesh Bank data, Bangladesh is importing fruit from some 46 foreign destinations including India, China, Brazil, New Zealand, Australia, Argentina, France, USA, Bhutan, Egypt and South Africa. India is exporting the major portion of fruit in the country.
According to information¸ the majority of the imported fruits are apples, grapes, mandarins and pomegranate. The demand for fruits in the country is increasing gradually, industry insiders said.
