The Bangladesh Cement Manufacturers' Association (BCMA) has issued a call for the government to cut import duties of clinker by 60 per cent.

"We had zero sales during the countrywide closure in the last two and a half months," said Md Alamgir Kabir, president of BCMA. "So for our survival we need the import duty on clinker, the sector's major raw material, to be brought down to BDT200/t from the existing BDT500/t."

The sector counted a loss of around BDT6bn from  26 March to 30 May, according to the BCMA. Factories opened on a limited scale on 1 June as the demand was close to zero," said Md Shahidullah, first vice-president of BCMA.

Most factories are now using only 10 per cent production capacity to supply cement to some of the ongoing mega projects, said Shahidullah, also the managing director of Metrocem Cement.