Home ›› 23 Aug 2021 ›› Front
The government has allowed 92 importers to import 3.91 lakh tonnes of rice to reduce its prices and increase supply in the domestic market.
The Ministry of Food issued a notification on August 21 with six conditions. The selected 92 traders will have to import the rice within September 25.
Importers have to open Letter of Credit (LC) within 15 days after the notification’s issuance. All documents must be sent to the food ministry through ([email protected]) via email.
In early August, the food ministry decided to import 10 lakh tonnes of rice through private importers. On August 6, the ministry sent a letter to the National Board of Revenue (NBR) to reduce the duty on rice import.
In a gazette notification on August 12, NBR fixed the new import duty at 25 per cent from 62.5 per cent. It will be effective until October 30, 2021.
Now importers have to pay 5 per cent Advance Tax and 5 per cent Advance Income Tax in addition to a 15 per cent customs duty, according to the notification.
On August 14, the food ministry asked importers to submit applications for rice import permission. Applications can be filed until August 25.
Bangladesh has imported 1.87 lakh tonnes of rice since July. It has imported around 15 lakh tonnes since January this year.
The Department of Agricultural Extension claimed Bangladesh produced 2.8 crore tonnes of Boro rice this season, which was 1.96 crore tonnes in the last season.
According to the permission letter, the importers cannot get an import permit (IP) over their allocation and imprint names of their companies on the rice sacks. They have to market the imported rice in plastic packets.
If the importers fail to open LC within the stipulated time, their IPs will be cancelled, the notification said.
