According to Food Ministry data, the price of 1kg coarse rice is now Tk38, which is Tk14 higher than the same time last year. By that account, the country has lost about 1.2 million tonnes of Boro rice in the flash-floods, though other unofficial estimates have put the figure almost twice as high. Agricultural economist Qazi Shahabuddin believes that this year the country will experience about two million tonnes of shortage in Boro production. According to the Food Ministry, the government’s rice reserve came down to 262,000 tonnes on May 7. Out of the circa 35 million tonnes of rice produced in the 2015-16 fiscal year, 19 million tonnes came from Boro.

Source: Dhaka Tribune May 15, 2017 19:07 UTC