Bangladesh to import 200,000 tonnes rice, wheat

The government has cleared proposals to import an additional 200,000 tonnes of rice and wheat.

The Cabinet Committee on Government Purchase endorsed the proposals at a meeting chaired by Finance Minister AMA Muhith on Wednesday.

Additional Cabinet Secretary Mostafizur Rahman told reporters that the government will buy 150,000 tonnes of non-Basmati boiled rice.

The import will cost Bangladesh around Tk 5.49 billion at the rate of $440 per tonne.    

The government will also buy 50,000 tonnes of wheat from Singapore's Resington Enterprise Limited in line with international quotation, Additional Secretary Mostafizur added.

The price will be around Tk 1.02 billion at $245.35 per tonne.

The government is importing food grains and easing import conditions after two spells of floods devastated crops on hundreds of thousands of farmland, raising fear of a food crisis in April.

Prices of rice, the staple food grain in Bangladesh, have since been multiplying. The government has decided to import 2 million tonnes of rice and wheat in current fiscal to refill the stock.