Trading Corporation of Bangladesh

Trading Corporation of Bangladesh (TCB) an autonomous state-owned trading enterprise under the Ministry of Commerce. After the liberation of the country in 1971, Bangladesh inherited a devastated economy, disrupted system of communication, and damaged ports. This necessitated urgent import of essential consumer goods and industrial raw materials. In this backdrop, TCB was established in 1972 by the Presidential Order No 68. To start with, it took over all the assets, liabilities and manpower of the defunct Trading Corporation of Pakistan. TCB's main functions at that time were: to import commodities according to the requirements of the government; to distribute the imported commodities at fair prices to keep the market stable; to create overseas markets for traditional and non-traditional products of Bangladesh and export those products; to keep a watch on the supply and price situation of the essential goods; and to engage in trading and related activities as directed by the government. However, the export function was later rescinded.

TCB is run by a board composed of the chairman (the chief executive) and three directors. In 1996, the government approved for it a new structure with manpower of 714, as against the earlier manpower of 1,336. As of 2018-19, the sanctioned manpower was 275. Broadly, it has four departments: administration; finance; trading and sales/distribution; movement of goods, clearing/forwarding and storage. TCB secretary heads the administration while the directors head the other departments. TCB head office is located at Karwan Bazaar of Dhaka. It has regional offices at Dhaka, Chattogram, Khulna, Rajshahi, Sylhet, Barishal and Rangpur. Owing to the operation of open market policy since the 1990s, the scope of TCB's state-level trading has been greatly squeezed leading to reduction of its manpower.

Since its inception, TCB has been playing an important role in rehabilitation and development of the country's economy, industry and commerce. In 1972-73, it imported 63 commodities including cement, milk food, textiles, yarn, sugar, corrugated iron sheets, vehicles, pig iron, oil seeds, medicines, coconut oil, tyres, tubes and bicycles. That year, TCB's share of the total imports was 24.84%. Under open market policy, its imports were greatly reduced and its share of imports came down to a mere 0.3%. Its present imports are limited to salt, explosives, timber, dates, sugar, onion, lentil, soybean oil and gram.

During times of crises, TCB has often acted as the saviour through imports. In emergencies, it imports onion, lentil, salt, dry chillies, dates, ginger, and medicines. During the period from July 1972 to June 1998, TCB imported goods worth Taka 19,923.7 million. Commodities worth Taka 1701.82 million were imported during the period 2015-19. In order to mitigate the sufferings of the low income people due to rise of commodity prices, TCB imports four essential commodities, viz. sugar, soybean oil, lentil and gram and distributes/sells those through 2849 dealers all over the country. Imported commodities are distributed through its appointed dealers, agents, sales centres, and licensed persons or organisations. During 2018-19, TCB sold 2,960.186 metric tons of sugar, 1,666.024 metric tons of lentil, 2,197.147 metric tons of soybean oil, 100 metric tons of dates, and 2,590.750 metric tons of gram among the low-income people across the country under its open market sales programme.

In addition to imports, TCB also undertook export trading in the past. From 1972 to 30 June 1998, TCB exported different commodities and earned foreign exchange of about Taka 153.09 million. It then exported jute, jute goods, molasses, tea, hides and skins, leather goods, readymade garments, urea, frozen fish, handicrafts, and fine rice. It also initiated the export of Bangladeshi readymade garments for the first time in 1975-76. TCB has participated in many international export fairs and exhibitions, and also earned prizes and awards. [Anupam Hayat]