Home ›› 08 Sep 2022 ›› Front
Bangladesh has started discussions to import around 4.20 lakh tonnes of rice from Thailand, as part of the government’s plan to import 10 lakh tonnes of the food grains from the global market to ensure food security.
The government has signed or is near signing several deals to import 5.80 lakh tonnes of rice and some of the grains have already arrived, according to officials.
Talking to The Business Post, Food Secretary Md Ismiel Hossain said the government has decided to buy rice at a higher price to meet the shortage since there is less chance to get rice or wheat at a low price from the international market due to the Russia-Ukraine war.
He said the high-quality rice from Thailand could be bought at $510-20 per tonne. However, the authorities are yet to finalise the price and amount of rice that will be imported.
On the other hand, Bangladesh will also import 2 lakh tonnes of rice from Myanmar under a government-to-government (G2G) agreement, under which per tonne will cost $456.50.
Ismiel said these Atap rice from Myanmar will be in Bangladesh’s markets within two months. “Even though it’s costlier than the Indian rice, the quality of Myanmar’s rice is better.”
Meanwhile, the government has decided to import 6.5 lakh tonnes of wheat and deals have already been signed for 6 lakh tonnes, he said. “We are looking for sources to import the rest of 50,000 tonnes.”
He added that 5 lakh tonnes of wheat will come from Russia under a G2G agreement at $215 million ($430 per tonne).
According to the Food Ministry’s Daily Foodgrain Situation Report, the country had 19.50 lakh tonnes of food grain in stock on September 5. Of those, 17.49 lakh tonnes were rice, over 1.38 lakh tonnes were wheat and 95,000 tonnes was paddy.
