DHAKA: Bangladesh aims to import 100,000 tonnes of sugar in state-to-state deals to meet swelling demand during the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan and keep prices of the sweetener stable, a senior official of the state-owned Bangladesh Sugar and Food Industries Corporation said on Wednesday.
"We've already started the process and are in talks with several countries including India, Mexico and Brazil," the official with the corporation said.
Sugar prices routinely surge during Ramadan as demand rises sharply at that time. Sugar prices are up more than 70 percent over the past one year.
"We are stockpiling to rein in prices and prevent any artificial crisis, especially in the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan, due to start in August," he said.
Apart from the government deals, the corporation is in the market to buy 75,000 tonnes of sugar through tenders and procure 20,000 tonnes of sugar locally as a precautionary measure in view of the market situation, the official said.
It is buying 25,000 tonnes of sugar from Geneva-based Cargill International SA at $723 a tonne, on a cost and freight basis, while another tender is due to open on May 7.
The government, facing growing public discontent over food inflation at nearly 14 percent, has moved to speed imports to build reserves of food staples to combat surging food costs.
Front-month New York raw sugar futures have dropped around 30 percent since rising to the highest in more than three decades in early February, partly due to bigger-than-expected Thai output and exports from India.
Bangladesh largely depends on imported sugar to meet its annual demand of 1.4 million tonnes. Private millers import mostly raw sugar from Brazil and Cuba.
The government has fixed a production target of 118,000 tonnes of sugar this year. Last year the eight state-owned mills produced a total of 62,225 tonnes of sugar.
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