Bangladesh to import another 250,000 tonnes of rice from India, Singapore

The government has decided to import another 250,000 tonnes of rice from India and Singapore through the Directorate General of Food to control the domestic market.

The Cabinet Committee on Government Purchase approved the proposal to buy the rice from overseas in a meeting on Wednesday.

Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal chaired the first meeting of the committee in the new year via video call from Singapore, said Abu Saleh Mostafa Kamal, additional cabinet secretary.

According to the approved proposal, the Directorate General of Food will buy 50,000 tonnes of non-Basmoti rice from India’s ETC agro Processing at Tk 1.71 billion, and the same amount of the grain from Singapore’s Agrocorp International at Tk 1.73 billion.

The rest of the rice, 150,000 tonnes, will come from the National Agriculture Cooperative Marketing Federation of India under a government-to-government process at Tk 5.22 billion. These consignments will include 100,000 tonnes of parboiled rice and 50,000 tonnes of Atap rice.

The committee had earlier approved the import of 150,000 tonnes of rice from India in three phases.

The prices of rice and paddy have increased sharply. According to the Trading Corporation of Bangladesh, the prices of the staple grain have increased by at least 10 percent in amonth.