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In a move to increase the country’s food reserves, the government has decided to import an additional 50,000 tonnes of non-basmati boiled rice from India. The total cost of the import is estimated to be $21.23 million, equivalent to approximately Tk 259.10 crore.
The approval for the import was granted during a meeting of the Advisory Council Committee on Government Purchase, held on Thursday at the Secretariat, chaired by Finance Adviser Dr Salehuddin Ahmed. The Ministry of Food had proposed the import through an international open tender for the fiscal year 2024-25.
The rice will be sourced from India’s M/s Bogadia Brothers Private Limited. The price per metric tonnes of rice has been set at $424.77, bringing the total cost of 50,000 tons to $21.23 million (Tk259.1 crore).
This decision follows a previous approval on March 14 for the import of 50,000 tons of non-basmati boiled rice from India’s M/s S Pattavi Agro Foods Private Limited, with a price of $429.55 per metric ton. Earlier, on February 20, the government had also approved the import of 50,000 tons from M/s Bogadia Brothers.
In total, the government has approved the import of 100,000 tons from India across two phases, as well as 50,000 tons each from Pakistan, Singapore, and 100,000 tons from Vietnam, in addition to other international sources.
For the current fiscal year, Bangladesh’s total rice demand is estimated at 3.98 million metric tons, with a target to procure 900,000 metric tons from international sources.
