From now on, rice importers will require paying a total of 55 per cent duty as the government has increased the regulatory duty (RD) on rice import to 25 per cent from existing 3.0 per cent
The decision was taken to discourage rice import in a backdrop of a significant fall in prices of paddy in the local market.
The National Board of Revenue (NBR) issued a Statutory Regulatory Order (SRO) imposing the new RD from Wednesday.
With the fresh hike, rice importers will require paying a total of 55 per cent duty, including 25 per cent Customs Duty, 25 per cent Regulatory Duty and 5.0 per cent Advance income Tax (AIT), on import of rice.
According to food ministry, 0.2 million tonnes of rice was imported both by the private sector and government so far (until April 16) in the current financial year (FY’19) which was 3.3 million tonnes in the corresponding period of last year.
According to the Department of Agricultural Marketing, paddy was selling at Tk 500-Tk 650 a maund (40 kg) based on their varieties across the country now against production cost of Tk 800-Tk 1000 this Boro harvesting season.
The Boro farmers were counting 40-60 per cent of loss across the country, according to Bangladesh Krishok Samity and Bangladesh Farm Labour Federations.
