Bangladesh’s dried fish is gaining traction both in the local and export market. Local consumption of Bangladesh is quite large in number and it’s about 65K-75k MT per year.
According to the stakeholders, people in Chattogram, Feni, Comilla, Brahamanbaria, Dhaka, Sylhet, Kishorganj, Sayedpur, Rangpur and Munshiganj districts are the main consumers of dry fish in the country. Khulna and Rajshahi have less consumers of dry fish.
Asadganj in Chittagong, country’s largest wholesale market. There are 50 warehouses, 250 wholesale merchants, 50 retails merchants and 10 exporters. In total, 3,000 permanent people are constantly engaged in the trade of dry fish here.
A businessman from Asadganj, Dipul Kanti said, “dry fish consumption is getting popular among locals and its even now popular in the Europe, US and across the Middle East.”
He also added, fishermen these days do not use any harmful chemicals as preservatives because the number of cold storage have increased. So, dry fish makers are getting fresh fish for them.
The Department of Fisheries in Cox’s Bazar says it has adopted new and hygienic methods of drying and preserving fish, thereby contributing to its growing popularity in local and abroad.
Cox’s Bazar district fisheries officer said, “If fishermen preserve dry fish by adopting the new methods and without using harmful chemicals, the taste of fish would remain intact. This is making dry fish more popular among all classes of people”.
“After removing fish intestines, fishermen are now mixing turmeric and pepper. It is very organic, hygienic and keeps the quality of dry fish unchanged. Moreover, these natural preservatives keep insects away. We keep a close eye on the whole process to ensure that no harmful chemical is added,” he said.
According to the Asadgonj Dry Fish Merchant Association (ADFMA), local production is unable to meet the growing domestic and international demand for dry fish. To fill the gap, dry fish is being imported from India, Myanmar and Pakistan. About 60% of the demand is being fulfilled from imports, while only 40% is met by local production.
There are 30 to 35 varieties of dried fish in the market. The most popular are Chinese pomfret (Rupchanda), Indian salmon (Lakkha), Ribbon fish (Chhuri), Bombay duck (Loitta) and shrimp. At the same time, to meet the local demand, Bangladesh has to import Ribbon fish, Bombay duck, Pabda, and Corica (Kachki) from India; Chinese pomfret and ribbon fish from Pakistan; and Corica and Ribbon fish from Myanmar. Of the imported dried fish, which accounts for 60% of the supplies, 70% comes from India, while 30 per cent is from Pakistan and Myanmar.
Now, the best quality dried fish are being exported to the UK, the US, Oman, Qatar, Kuwait, Oman, Saudi Arabia and the UAE because of its high demand among Bangladeshi expatriates in those countries. For exporting dry fish, about 100 large and small dry fish export processing units have been set up in fish-processing areas, particularly the coastal areas and islands like Rangabali, Sonadia, Kutubdia, Talpatti, St Martin’s, Teknaf, Banshkhali, Anwara, Moheshkhali and Cox’s Bazar.
$7 million worth of dry fish has been exported in the fiscal year of 2021-2022.
EPB (Export Promotion Bureau)
Businessmen, however, expressed their concern over the future prospect of the dry fish business. The county’s dry fish production is falling and fishermen are changing their profession due to the long ban on fishing imposed to help proper spawning.
“The government said this ban was for spawning. But fishermen led a miserable hand-to-mouth existence during that period,” said Jamal Hossain, a dry fish sector stakeholder.
“Pollution and climate change are contaminating the sea water. Consequently, the
production of fish is falling,” he added.
He also said that foreign vessels discharged wastes at sea within Bangladesh territory owing to lax vigilance. Moreover, fishing trawlers of neighboring countries enter Bangladesh’s territorial waters to catch fish, he noted.
“Fish production would increase if the government prevented these two things and there
would be no need to import. Moreover, we will be able to export more dry fish,” he said.
He also blamed the process of catching shrimp fries for the destruction of thousands of fish. He said that in order to collect shrimp fries, the collectors are killing million fries of different species. This practice should be banned in the coastal areas.
