Bangladesh has issued a tender to import 100,000 tonnes of non-basmati parboiled rice by November to meet possible emergency post-monsoon demand, food officials said on Saturday. The tender will close on August 13, with validity up to September 2. The shipment should be within 30 days from the date of signing of the contract, they said.
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 Mongla ports, the officials said. Over the last couple of weeks, the state-managed food directorate floated separate tenders to import 200,000 tonnes and 150,000 tonnes of rice with tenders closing on July 17 and August 1 respectively.
The directorate during the period also tendered to import 212,000 tonnes and 138,000 tonnes of wheat, with tenders closing on July 17 and August 13 respectively. Bangladesh produced nearly 29 million tonnes of rice, the country's main staple, in 2005/06 (July-June) fiscal year. The production figure for rice in 2006/07 was yet to be available.
Bangladesh's wheat production fell 2.84 percent to 750,000 tonnes in the 2006-07 (July-June) financial year. The country's annual wheat demand is 3.5 million tonnes and it covers the shortfall through government and private sector imports and foreign grants. Bangladesh scrapped a 5 percent import duty on rice and wheat in March to keep price stable.
Comments
Comments are closed for this article.