Bangladesh has issued a tender to import 150,000 tonnes of non-basmati parboiled rice by October to meet possible emergency post-monsoon demand, food officials said on Wednesday. The tender will close on August 1, with validity up to August 21. The shipment should be within 30 days from the date of signing of the contract, they said.
"The import is a part of precautionary measures to meet a possible post-monsoon emergency food demand," Moll Waheeduzzaman, director general of the food directorate, told Reuters. The monsoon prevails in Bangladesh between June to September, triggering floods that damage crops every year. The rice will be delivered either to Chittagong or Mongolia ports, the officials said.
This month, the state-managed food directorate floated separate tenders to import 200,000 tonnes of rice and 212,000 tonnes of wheat. These tenders will close on July 17. Bangladesh have also begun a campaign to buy 1.2 million tonnes of rice from the domestic market by August 30 to build up its inventories, they said.
Bangladesh produced nearly 29 million tonnes of rice, the country's main staple, in 2005/06 (July-June) fiscal year, agriculture officials said. It is expected to miss its 32-million tonne target for this year to June 30 because of bad weather. Bangladesh's wheat production fell 2.84 percent to 750,000 tonnes in 2006-07. The production figure for rice in the same financial year was yet to be available. Bangladesh abolished a five- percent import duty on rice and wheat in March to keep prices stable.
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