The government has allowed some 29 private companies to import a total of 0.33 million tonnes of rice aiming to boost its supply in the local market and contain its rising prices, officials said.
Giving its permission to traders concerned, the commerce ministry has already asked the Office of Chief Controller of Imports and Exports (CCIE) to issue import permit to 22 traders.
And the ministry will immediately send the list of seven other traders to CCIE.
Besides, it has selected seven more private companies to import 65,000 tonnes of boiled rice.
According to the provision, non-basmati rice with a maximum of 5.0 per cent broken grains can be imported by the private importers.
The traders have to release imported rice in the market within 10-45 days. Private importers will get duty benefit on import if they meet the government-set conditions in this regard.
The importers will have to open Letters of Credit (LCs) within seven days from the date of getting permission for rice import. They will also have to inform the food ministry about the matter.
Traders, having allocation of 5,000 tonnes of rice, will have to sell 50 per cent of their imported rice within 10 days while the rest of 50 per cent within maximum 20 days, according to the food ministry.
Traders, having allocation of 10,000/15,000/50,000 tonnes of rice, will have to sell 50 per cent of their imported rice within 15 days while the rest of 50 per cent within maximum 30 days.
The government has recently decided to import at least 1.0 million tonnes of rice from different countries to boost the food grain reserve amid growing concerns over the second wave of the Covid-19, said a high official of the food ministry.
The food ministry has recently given import allocations in favour of the traders concerned.
The 10 traders are: Henna Enterprise of Joypurhat (10,000 tonnes), Renu Construction of Dinajpur (15,000 tonnes), Alal Agro Food Products (10,000 tonnes) and Alal Enterprise (5,000 tonnes) of Bogura, Deepto Enterprise of Naogaon (10,000 tonnes), Akash Enterprise (10,000 tonnes) of Naogaon, Ghosh Automatic Rice Mill (15,000 tonnes) of Naogaon, Kazi Shobhan Trading Corporation of Khulna, Nurul Islam (10,000 tonnes) and Jagdish Chandra Roy (10,000 tonnes).
Besides, the traders include Mazumder and Sons of Jashore (20,000 tonnes), Mazumder Enterprise of Satkhira (25,000 tonnes), Mazumder Enterprise of Dhaka (50,000 tonnes), Liton Enterprise of Jashore (10,000 tonnes), Prodhan Traders, Gaibandha (5,000 tonnes), Purbasha Trading of Pabna (5,000 tonnes), United Rice Mill of Dinajpur (5,000 tonnes), M/S Sushanto Krisna Rai of Jashore (10,000 tonnes), M/S Hossain Traders and Islam Traders of Chapainawabganj, (10,000 and 5,000 tonnes respectively), M/S Noab Food Products of Chapainawabganj (10,000 tonnes) and M/S Global Enterprise of Jashore (5,000 tonnes).
Currently, the price of rice in the market is slightly upward. In this regard, the government instructed all field-level administrations to strengthen monitoring so that manipulators cannot create the volatile situation in the rice market.
Earlier, the commerce ministry has asked the Directorate of National Consumer Rights Protection to take stringent action against traders who will sell their rice at unusual prices.
Considering the overall needs, the government is giving priority to import of rice.
As of December 20, the government collected only 11,311 tonnes of rice and 257 tonnes of paddy against the target of 0.65 million tonnes of rice and 0.2 million tonnes of paddy in the current Aman season.
Despite all efforts by the government side, the millers are reluctant to sign deals with the government as market price of rice is higher than government-set prices, a senior official of the food ministry said.
The government has completed 21.43 per cent and 28.11 per cent agreements for collecting boiled and Atap rice respectively against the collection target dated November 07 to December 10, 2020.
The prices of rice have been rising in recent months. Coarse and medium varieties of rice were being sold at prices between Tk 46 and Tk 56 a kg in Dhaka.
According to the Trading Corporation of Bangladesh (TCB), the current market price of rice is the second highest since September 2017.
The government has set a target to distribute over 2.4 million tonnes of food grains under its safety net program.
Over 1.1 million tonnes of rice and wheat have been distributed as of November 30, 2020.
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