Bangladesh has offered to buy an additional 0.20 million (200,000) tonnes of rice from Myanmar under a government to government agreement before the end of December, said associate secretary Lu Maw Myint Maung of the Myanmar Rice Federation (MRF).
Bangladesh signed a memorandum of understanding with Myanmar aiming to buy 0.30 million tonnes of rice under the agreement, a major increase from the 0.10 million tonnes of Myanmar rice already sent to Bangladesh this year in response to a shortfall, the Eleven Myanmar reports.
Rice demand in Bangladesh increased with a sense of urgency this year after floods damaged most paddy fields in the country.
Bangladesh has imported 1.2 million tonnes of rice but still requires around another one million tonnes, said Lu Maw Mying Maung. So far, Myanmar has exported about one million tonnes of rice to Bangladesh, he said.