Bangladesh has resumed exports of vegetables to the UK after scanner trouble halted the shipment of farm products for nearly a month. Some traders, however, say they have already lost the market in the UK due to the long gap, claiming it will be difficult for them to get it back.
Countries need to use an explosive detection system approved by the UK Department for Transport to ship agricultural products to Britain. Bangladesh had two such scanners. Shahjalal International Airport in Dhaka has four EDSs and two X-ray scanners. Two of the EDSs were approved by the UK and one of them has been out of order for a year. Vegetable exports to the UK came to a halt after the other EDS stopped working on March 9.
Finally, the UK approved the two other scanners at the Dhaka airport and exports resumed after the latest notice arrived on Tuesday, said Group Captain Kamrul Islam, the recently appointed executive director of the airport.
“The scanners are working in full swing and shipments have been sent [to the UK],” he said on Thursday. The work to repair the non-functional EDS was also ongoing, he said.
Source: bdnews24.com
