Bangladesh to import 0.13m tonnes of rice

Bangladesh to import 0.13m tonnes of rice

Bangladesh is going to import 130,000 tonnes of rice from different countries to help boost the official food grain stock, Food Directorate chief said Saturday.

Director General of Food Directorate Ahmed Hossain, said: "Around 30,000 tonnes of non-basmati parboiled rice might be bought from Thailand or Pakistan and another 100,000 tonnes of non-boiled rice from Vietnam."

'The Cabinet Committee on Public Purchases Thursday approved proposal to import a total of 130,000 tonnes of rice to help boost the official food grainstock,' he added.

He said, "We have given a letter of intent to the suppliers and they have seven workings days to submit performance guarantee or offers quotations for the 30,000 tonnes of non-basmati parboiled rice. The grain is to be shipped in 40 days from the date of contract signed."

'Recently, we visited Vietnam and negotiated with Vietnamese counterpart for import 100,000 tonnes of non boiled rice. They have agreed to keep the price at US$389 per tonne for 20,000 tonnes of rice and the price of rest of the rice will be US$460 for each tonne,' he added.

Mr Hossain said the new deal for import 100,000 tonnes of rice from Vietnam might be signed next week. The supply will begin by 60 days."

"Currently, the stock of rice is around 750,000 tonnes and to meet the demand for the staple food we are procuring rice from local market and importing from India," he said.

He said Bangladesh is importing rice from India to face any future emergency. India has agreed to sell 300,000 tonnes against 100,000 tonnes agreed previously, which might reach the country within two months.

"The import of around 200,000 tonnes of rice is in pipeline and of this 50,000 tonnes have reached the country. The rest of the quantity will come soon," he added.