A number that arrives after the decision

Letter from the table — 9 June 2026

Dear Trade Council,

Mina in Nairobi, I recognized the difficulty you described in your letter: the number you need to decide whether an order is affordable can be the number you learn only after you have committed to it. My experience was in Bangladesh, but that part felt familiar.

On 11 March this year, I asked for a landed-cost estimate for a small shipment of business inputs arriving through Chattogram. I had an Import Registration Certificate, and the payment and import documents were handled through my bank. The customs declaration would be assessed by Customs House, Chattogram under the applicable National Board of Revenue tariff schedule. I was not asking anyone to promise a particular customs outcome. I wanted a useful estimate before I placed the order.

The estimate I received was BDT 312,000 in total: BDT 96,000 for freight, BDT 164,000 for estimated customs duties and taxes, BDT 32,000 for port and handling charges, BDT 12,000 for clearance, and BDT 8,000 for inland transport. I could plan around that figure. I could not see, in one place, which amounts were fixed, which depended on customs assessment, or what charges might arise if the estimate’s assumptions proved wrong.

The shipment arrived on 18 March. It was released on 27 March, after the customs declaration was assessed. The final cost recorded in my diary was BDT 391,600: BDT 96,000 for freight, BDT 197,600 in customs duties and taxes, BDT 51,000 for port and handling, BDT 19,000 for clearance, and BDT 28,000 for inland transport. That was BDT 79,600 above the estimate.

I am not saying that the assessment was improper. The customs declaration and bill of entry recorded the assessment that applied to the shipment. The problem was that the earlier estimate did not make its assumptions clear enough for me to understand how far the result could move. The customs amount was higher than estimated, and the port, clearance and transport figures also changed. I had no single explanation that joined the estimate to the final bill, item by item, in language I could use to make a decision beforehand.

What I tried was ordinary: I asked the forwarder to explain the difference and compared the estimate with the final documents. The documents were not all expressed in the same way, and the explanation arrived after the money was already due. I could not undo the order or revise the shipment size at that point. I paid, adjusted other expenses, and entered the figures in my Landed Cost Diary. Recording it does not recover the money. It makes the next estimate easier to question.

A landed cost is not a useful number if the small trader cannot see what it includes, what could change it, and when that change will be known.

This is why I support the Small Importer Standard. It should not tell customs officers to waive lawful duties, and it should not pretend that every shipment can be priced exactly in advance. Customs classification, valuation and the applicable tariff schedule must still be applied by the competent authorities. But a forwarder should show the basis of its estimate: freight, port and handling, clearance, inland movement, and the estimated duties and taxes, with the assumptions and uncertainties stated plainly. If a charge is provisional, label it provisional. If another cost may arise, explain the condition that triggers it and give a reasonable range where one can be provided.

The standard should also ask governments to consider the size and capacity of the trader when new trade rules or tariffs take effect. Clear, plain-language guidance and advance notice would help a small importer check which rules apply before committing funds. Where the law and policy objective allow it, a phase-in or size-based threshold can spare very small traders from disproportionate administrative cost without removing the rule’s purpose. These are practical safeguards, not a request for special treatment after the fact.

In Bangladesh, an importer must work with the applicable import documentation, customs requirements and tariff schedule; that is part of doing business. But the paperwork should help a trader understand the obligation, not leave the trader assembling the true cost from several documents after release. A better estimate would let me compare suppliers, decide whether to proceed, and reserve enough working capital. It would also give a forwarder a clear way to distinguish its own charges from government duties and taxes.