Import of 6.55 lakh tonnes of rice gets approval

On Tuesday, 218 importers got primary approval to import 6,55,000 tonnes of rice. The approval was granted after nearly 300 importers applied in the last six days.

Another 60-70 importers have been listed for approval already, Ministry of Food officials informed. These importers are slated to receive their approval within the next couple of days.

However, the importers will have to market the imported rice by August 21 next. Other conditions imposed by the ministry include opening LC (Letter of Credit) by July 25 after securing Import Permission (IP) from the Plant Quarantine Wing of the Department of Agricultural Extension under Agriculture Ministry.

In order to keep the rice prices stable in the local market, the National Board of Revenue (NBR) issued a gazette notification, slashing the import tariff on rice to 25 per cent from 62.5 per cent in August 2021.

The import of 10,00,000 tonnes of rice will be approved in phases. After conducting market verification, the import of another 5,00,000 tonnes of rice will be approved in the private sector. The price of rice is expected to go down to some extent after these caches of imported rice hit the market.

Following the approvals, the upward rising trend of the price of rice halted in the local markets.

According to the Trading Corporation of Bangladesh (TCB), the price of fine rice increased from Tk 64-72 per kg to Tk 64-80 per kg within a month. However, the price remained stable over the last week.

However, importers expressed anxiety about the price of imported rice being higher than the current market price.

According to them, Bangladesh imports rice majorly from India and Myanmar. But compared to last year, the price of rice per kg has gone up Tk 7-8 in those countries. So despite the lowered import tariff, the price of imported rice may end up being higher than the recent market price.

Importers claimed that many people lost money last year because, after import, the price of rice in the local market went down.

When asked about the recent development, the owner of Messers Henna Enterprise in Joypurhat said “We have taken the approval, but we are not obliged to import. If the cost is high, we will not go through with the imports.”