20 items generated 37% of Ctg customs FY25 revenue

Chattogram Custom House's revenue collection jumped nearly 13 percent year-on-year to Tk 77,685 crore in the just-concluded fiscal year, and interestingly, over one-third of the total was generated by only 20 out of the 4,800 imported products.

Around 37 percent, or Tk 28,767 crore, of the total came mostly from diesel, furnace oil, cement clinker, palm oil, crude oil, apples, hot-rolled steel, oranges, broken stone, sugar, milk powder, polypropylene, motorcycle parts, scrap, betel nuts, dates, polyvinyl chloride, and liquefied natural gas.

Some 9.39 crore tonnes of goods worth Tk 5,01,572 crore were imported through Chattogram port in FY25, up from 9.12 crore tonnes worth Tk 4,62,136 crore in the previous year, according to newly released customs data.

Customs officials gave credit to the recovery of outstanding dues from government organisations, fast clearance of pending consignments from the port, faster completion of auction procedures, stricter monitoring, and an overall increase in import volume.

"Every year, nearly one-third of our revenue comes from 20 to 25 major import items, and this year was no exception," Mohammad Saidul Islam, deputy commissioner of Chattogram Customs, told The Daily Star.

"We intensified intelligence surveillance across all types of products, which helped curb irregularities and enhance revenue collection," he said.

Among individual items, diesel generated the highest revenue of Tk 5,766 crore, followed by furnace oil at Tk 3,111 crore, cement clinker at Tk 3,089 crore, palm oil at Tk 1,849 crore, and crude oil at Tk 1,760 crore.

As per the data, about Tk 1,272 crore was collected from apples, Tk 1,110 crore from hot-rolled steel, Tk 1,070 crore from oranges, Tk 1,024 crore from crude oil, Tk 987 crore from crushed stone, Tk 808 crore from motorcycle parts, Tk 783 crore from scrap, Tk 728 crore from betel nuts, and Tk 545 crore from dates.