Bangladesh to import 1 lakh mt rice from India
Dhaka: Bangladesh Cabinet Purchase Committee on Wednesday approved a proposal of the Food Ministry to import 100,000 tonnes of parboiled rice from India to meet the local demand.
The price of rice was set at $455 per metric tonne, which is equivalent to Tk 37,487. The government will have to spend Tk 377.65 crore to import the bulk rice. The rice will be imported under the government-to-government (G-to-G) basis.
Industries Minister Amir Hossain Amu presided over the Cabinet body meeting in the absence of Finance Minister AMA Muhith.
Officials said the import of rice is being taken place as part of the arrangement between Bangladesh and India in recent years.
India has agreed to export around 500,000 tonnes of parboiled rice to Bangladesh at the request of the government.
National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India Ltd (NAFED) will export the rice to Bangladesh.
Bangladesh has been experiencing a shortfall of 1.5 million tonnes of rice due to recent crop loss in the recent flooding in different districts across the country.
After the floods, around 150,000 tonnes of rice has been exported to Bangladesh by private traders from India until now.
Last week, the Cabinet Purchase Committee approved a similar proposal of the Food Ministry to import 100,000 tonnes of rice - each tonne costing $442 or Tk 36,416 - from Myanmar as part of its move to address the rice shortfall.