Govt floats tender to import 50,000 tonnes rice
The government has floated a tender to get 50,000 tonnes of parboiled rice from international marketplaces to increase stocks and rein in the soaring prices of the staple in domestic markets, according to a notification from the Directorate of Food.
This was the 3rd tender floated by the food office within the last one month.
The federal government previously approved two previous tenders to get 100,000 tonnes of rice from two Indian suppliers.
The approach comes at the same time when the price tag on rice is soaring because of a shortage in public warehouses that stems from sluggish procurement through the current Aman harvesting season.
Since the beginning of the procurement period for paddy and rice this year, the Directorate of Food could procure just 115 tonnes of paddy and 5,900 tonnes of rice from farmers and millers as of December 10.
The quantity of paddy and rice purchased was no more than 1 % of the targets because of this year.
This led to the gain shortage at state go-downs.
As of December 10, rice and wheat shares stood at 7.7 lakh tonnes, down 44 % year-on-time from 13.85 lakh tonnes.
Sarwar Mahmud, director-general of the Directorate of Food, said his office plans to buy more rice.
"We are also likely to float a tender to get 100,000 tonnes of wheat from the international industry," he added.
The federal government imported 2.15 lakh tonnes of wheat between July 1 and December 10 this fiscal year. The amount purchased was 59 % of the government's total rice import in fiscal 2019-20 when it had been 3.67 lakh tonnes.
