Against a sanctioned procurement volume of nearly two million tons of paddy and rice, the food department could buy only half a million tons till Sunday. Experts from the Bangladesh Rice Research Institute (BRRI) gave statistics that show, with its current stock, Bangladesh is well poised in meeting the rice demand of its 170 million population up to the next harvesting season, which is November-December, 2020. After two million tons of rice got lost in 2017 flash floods, the government allowed rice imports with zero tariff resulting in flooding the local market with over four million tons of rice, mostly from India, thereby dampening the rice market in Bangladesh. No shortage of rice in the countryThe BRRI reports presented in the webinar, showed that there is no shortage of rice in Bangladesh this year. According to BRRI estimates, the country will still have over five million tons of rice in hand after November, when the next rice season will start providing fresh yields.

Source: Dhaka Tribune August 09, 2020 15:22 UTC