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Bangladesh's tire and tube manufacturers have urged the government to extend equivalent import protection to motorcycle tires, impose higher duties on agricultural tire imports and withdraw proposed additional duties on key raw materials.
The Bangladesh Tire-Tube Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BTMEA) made the demands at a press conference at a city hotel on Monday.
Senior representatives from Meghna Tire, RFL Group, Rupsa Tire, Akij Venture, Apex Hossain Tire, Jamuna Tire and other member companies attended the event.
BTMEA welcomed several provisions of the proposed FY2026-27 budget, including a 20 percent supplementary duty on light truck tire imports, the imposition of VAT on agricultural tire imports and fiscal incentives for the electric vehicle (EV) sector.
The association said these measures send a positive signal to an industry long deprived of adequate policy support.
It noted that domestic agricultural tire producers earlier faced a structural disadvantage, as locally manufactured tires attracted VAT while equivalent imports did not, a disparity the new budget seeks to address.
Despite Bangladesh having the manufacturing capacity to produce motorcycle tires domestically, the market remains overwhelmingly import-reliant, BTMEA said.
The association called for adequate tariff protection and a mandatory local-sourcing requirement for motorcycle assemblers, arguing such measures would save foreign exchange and allow domestic plants to operate at full capacity.
BTMEA expressed alarm over proposed additional duties on rubber accelerators, iron wire (steel cord) and MS nipples, materials it described as indispensable inputs for tire production.
It said higher duties on these items would raise production costs and undermine the competitiveness of local manufacturers, and urged the government to withdraw the proposals.
Responding to arguments made by tire importers, BTMEA said the supplementary duty on light truck tires would not significantly raise transport costs.
It argued that increased domestic production would instead intensify market competition and likely bring prices down. The association also dismissed fears of rising illegal imports or declining government revenue as unfounded.
On the electric vehicle front, BTMEA called for a simpler process for accessing SRO benefits and sought a mandatory requirement that three- and four-wheeled electric vehicles use locally produced tires.
The association said large-scale investment is already flowing into Bangladesh's tire sector and expressed confidence that, with consistent policy backing, the country could achieve self-sufficiency in tire production in the near future, generating employment, saving foreign exchange and boosting government revenue in the process.
