Bangladesh has signed a deal to import 100,000 tonnes of parboiled rice at $575 a tonne, CIF, from Vietnam in a government deal and will ink a deal for another 100,000 tonnes of rice, a senior official said on Tuesday. A deal will be signed for another 100,000 tonnes of white rice at $530 a tonne, CIF, Ahmed Hossain Khan, director-general of the state grains buyer, told Reuters.
Although it is the world's fourth-biggest rice producer at 33 million tonnes, Bangladesh has emerged as a major importer this year and is desperately looking for dependable sources. Bangladesh last month signed a deal to import 200,000 tonnes of rice from Thailand as it moves to speed up grain imports and stabilise domestic prices.
In January, the government paid a higher cost to import 250,000 tonnes of rice from Vietnam. The price for 200,000 tonnes of 15 percent broken white rice to be supplied by Vinafood 2 was $545 a tonne, CIF, compared with $389 per tonne it paid in August, while the price for the remaining 50,000 tonnes of parboiled rice was $550 per tonne.
The price for parboiled rice is higher than the last time but less than the price of $580 a tonne, including cost and freight but excluding insurance, which Bangladesh paid for the same grade parboiled rice from Thailand.