The government is set to purchase 250,000 tonnes of parboiled rice from Thailand and local traders at a cost of Tk1017.14 crore in order to shore up Bangladesh’s depleted stock of the staple. According to the ministry’s proposals, 150,000 tonnes of rice will be imported from Thailand at a cost of TK578.92 crore, while the remaining 100,000 tonnes will be supplied at Tk438.22 crore by local traders who import rice from India, Thailand, Pakistan and Vietnam. Earlier, the Prime Minister’s Office directed the ministry to import 1.15 million tonnes of rice under G2G agreements and also through international as well as domestic tenders within the next month. Last week, the Cabinet Committee on Public Purchase approved another proposal of the ministry to purchase 100,000 tonnes of rice from India at Tk377.65 crore, each tonne costing $455 (Tk37, 487). As of October 18, Bangladesh had 499,000 tonnes of grains in its stock, including 396,000 tonnes of rice.

Source: Dhaka Tribune October 24, 2017 19:18 UTC