DHAKA: Bangladesh is going to import 50,000 metric tonnes of rice from Thailand. The government is purchasing the parboiled rice from Thailand through an international tender.

Additional secretary of the Cabinet division Mostafizur Rahman told this following the cabinet committee meeting on public purchase held at the Bangladesh Secretariat on Wednesday (September 20).

Food secretary Md Kaikobad Hossain said that the rice is going to be imported from Thailand at the cost per metric tonne of the staple at $438, while the total cost of the import stands at $21.9m (Tk181 crore).

The government has previously failed to import 300,000 tonnes of rice from Thailand and India due to price differences between the two countries and the international market.

The Food Ministry had aimed to procure one million tonnes of rice from international markets to meet the current shortage in rice, which fell to a five-year low of 345,000 tonnes on September 14.

The government signed two deals with Vietnam and Cambodia in August to import 2.5 million tonnes of rice from each of the countries.

Bangladesh bought 200,000 tonnes of Vietnamese white rice at $430 a tonne and 50,000 tonnes of parboiled rice at $470 a tonne in a state-to-state deal - at rates much higher than in previous tenders.

Food Minister Md Qamrul Islam recently visited Myanmar to purchase rice. After the visit, the government decided to import 1 lakh metric tonnes of Atop rice (white rice) from Myanmar. The rice will be imported in the next three months.

Bangladesh will purchase the rice from Myanmar at USD 442 per tonne.

BDST: 1810 HRS, SEP 20, 2017
EHJ