Move to ban import of recycled lube oil

FT ONLINE

The government has moved to ban the import of recycled lube oil and lube base oil, given their damaging effects on the vehicular engines and the environment.

In a letter on Sunday, the energy division requested the ministry of commerce (MoC) to take steps to ban the import of the two items immediately.

A senior trade official said the energy division published a gazette notification on the policy of setting up of lube blending plant on April 21 this year prohibiting the import of the two items.

But the National Board of Revenue (NBR) in the national budget for fiscal year 2018-19 allowed the import of the items through inclusion of two separate HS (harmonised system) Codes for them.

"Now we are taking step to ban the import," the official said.

The energy division in its letter wrote the section 6.3 of the 2018 policy has prohibited the import of recycled lube base oil and lube oil.

"To help ensure the longevity of tools of motorised vehicles and machinery of industrial units and prevent environmental pollution, banning of the import of these items are necessary," said the letter.

The section 6.3 of the policy also stated that the lube oil blending plants will only be allowed to use virgin base oil to produce lube products.

However, taking the advantage of disagreement between the energy division and the NBR, a section of unscrupulous businessmen are importing substandard lubricants into the country.

The market is allegedly flooded with substandard lubricants under various brand names.

Even some importers are directly selling recycled lube oil and recycled lube base oil, it is alleged.

According to the Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation (BPC), the annual demand for lube oil in the country is 0.35 million tonnes.

The production capacity of 18 public and privately-owned lube blending plants is much higher than that of the annual demand.

Besides, some traders import high quality lube oils from countries like Japan, Germany and the United Kingdom.

Contacted over telephone on Friday, BPC director Sarwar Alam said these recycled lube oil and recycled lube base oil are by-products of crude oil and gas condensate.

In many countries, these products are dumped as garbage, which some of the unscrupulous traders bring to Bangladesh taking the advantage of policy loopholes.

The BPC officials recently sat with the corporation's own companies and some private firms who produce lube oil to discuss the negative sides of such oils.

They agreed that the uses of the recycled garbage would damage engines and pollute the environment.

"We need to stop their import immediately," said Mr Alam.