Brent crude oil futures for May delivery inched up 3 cents to $85.37 a barrel by 0045 GMT
The cabinet committee on government purchase approved the proposal to buy the parboiled rice at $438 per tonne at a meeting chaired by Finance Minister AMA Muhith on Wednesday.
Siam Rice Trading (Thai) Company Limited will supply the rice at Tk 1.81 billion as the lowest bidder, Additional Cabinet Secretary Mostafizur Rahman told reporters after the meeting.
The government is importing food grains and easing import conditions after two spells of floods devastated crops on hundreds of thousands of farmland.
The crisis has pushed rice prices through the roof. Even the price of rice at the government's Open Market Sale programme for the poor has doubled to Tk 30 per kilogram.