Govt to import 50,000 tonnes of rice
The federal government yesterday gave its nod to a proposal to get 50,000 tonnes of parboiled rice from abroad within its effort to augment public food stock.
The initiative also is aimed at helping the federal government intervene on the market through social safety net schemes to curb volatility in the price tag on the staple.
Indian company Rika Global Impex Ltd got the agreement to supply the meals grain at $404 per tonne, said Abu Saleh Mostafa Kamal, extra secretary of the cabinet division, after a gathering of the cabinet committee about purchase.
In the local currency, the price will be Tk 34.28 each kilogram. Law Minister Anisul Huq chaired the getting together with.
The Indian supplier was the lowest bidder. The best bid was $423.95 per tonne, said the official of the meals ministry.
This was the next tender from the government in the last a month as it had not been getting enough responses from farmers and millers to supply paddy and rice respectively at its fixed prices due to soaring prices in the neighborhood market.
Previous month, the Directorate of Food invited bids to get the grains from exterior sources.
The meals office also cannot attain the mark on the procurement of rice and paddy from the Boro harvest.
But instead of walking its rice and paddy order prices from local market segments during the recent harvest of Aman crop, the meals ministry is embracing international markets to get the grain.
In the initial phase, it projects to get 300,000 tonnes of rice out of a target as high as 5 lakh tonnes to replenish the general public food stock, explained Food Secretary Mosammat Nazmanara Khanum earlier this week.
By December 7, the inventory of foodgrains found in the state-work warehouses was 7.9 lakh tonnes, down 43 % from 13.87 lakh tonnes on a single day this past year, food ministry data showed.
Until the date, the Directorate of Food has were able to purchase only 53 tonnes of paddy out of its target of 200,000 tonnes from local growers.
When it comes to rice, it's been in a position to procure 3,476 tonnes from millers out of 600,000 tonnes targeted.
