The government plans to purchase 50,000 tonnes of rice from India
It will also purchase oil and lentils for food distribution programs.
The interim government of Bangladesh has decided to procure 50,000 tonnes of rice from India to replenish the country’s food stocks and meet consumer demand for rice amidst ongoing inflationary pressures. This rice will be used for state-sponsored food distribution programs, which are currently operating at full capacity to address the high demand driven by persistent inflation. The proposal for this purchase was approved during a meeting of the Advisory Committee on Economic Affairs, chaired by Finance Adviser Salehuddin Ahmed, yesterday.
The Food Ministry will import the rice through M/S Bagadiya Brothers Private Ltd in India at a cost of $456.67 per tonne. According to the Food Ministry's data, as of December 17, Bangladesh held a stock of 1.148 million tonnes of food grains, of which approximately 742,000 tonnes were rice.
As of December 17 in the current fiscal year, the government had imported a total of 2.625 million tonnes of food grains, including 54,170 tonnes of rice. The government plans to distribute 2.052 million tonnes of food grains through various channels in the 2024-25 fiscal year. Of this, 800,000 tonnes of rice will be sourced from the local market during the ongoing Aman season, with additional supplies expected during the Boro season in early 2025.
By December 5, the Food Ministry had distributed about 1.117 million tonnes of rice through various food distribution programs.
Additionally, the government has approved separate proposals for purchasing two cargoes of liquefied natural gas (LNG) and 90,000 tonnes of urea fertilizer to meet the country’s growing demand. The Ministry of Power, Energy and Mineral Resources has arranged the LNG procurement from M/S TotalEnergies Gas and Power Ltd in Switzerland, with one cargo priced at $14.25 per MMBtu and the other at $13.87 per MMBtu.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Industries will purchase 90,000 tonnes of urea fertilizer through separate proposals, including from suppliers in Qatar and Saudi Arabia.
The Trading Corporation of Bangladesh (TCB) will also procure 10,000 tonnes of lentils from Sheikh Agro Food Industries in Dhaka at a rate of Tk 95.40 per kilogram. Additionally, TCB will buy 11 million litres of soybean oil from City Edible Oil Limited in Dhaka, priced at Tk 172.25 per litre.
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