Bangladesh to import 25,000 tonnes of rice from Burma

Monday, 08 March 2010 12:59 Siddique Islam

Dhaka (Mizzima) -Bangladesh will be importing 25,000 metric tonnes of sunned rice from Burma shortly to meet growing demand, officials said.

The decision was taken at a cabinet committee meeting on public purchase in capital, Dhaka on Sunday with Finance Minister AMA Muhith in the chair.

The Singapore-based Indo-Sino Trade Limited was contracted to supply bulk rice from Burma at US$395 per tonne. The Indo-Sino Trade syndicate won the contract "as the lowest bidder", a senior government official said.

The Bangladesh government wants to ensure sufficient rice supply in the market, Food Minister Abdur Razzak told reporters after the meeting, adding that the government is also considering a proposal to import five million metric tonnes of rice soon.

Burmese exporters do not prefer to export their products through opening letters of credit (LCs) due to imposition of investment and trade sanctions on Burma by the United States, European Union and Canada.

Currently, payments for foreign trade are settled between the two countries through a third country like Singapore.

Bangladesh's importers now settle their payments for bulk exports through bank drafts issued by foreign banks in a third country. An importer is entitled to bank draft against import worth US$ 10,000-$20,000 a single time under the existing border trade arrangement.

Some rice exporters in Burma are interested in exporting rice by way of border trade via Maungdaw-Teknaf, but prior to that they need the permission of their government, according to local businessmen.

On the other hand, Bangladesh's total production target of food grains during fiscal year 2009-10 (FY10) has been primarily fixed at 35.051 million metric tonnes. The actual production of food grains during FY 09 stood at 32.166 million metric tonnes.

Import of food grains during July-January period of FY10 was higher at 2.135 million metric tonnes compared to 1.459 million metric tonnes in the same period of the previous fiscal, according to the central bank statistics.

However, stock of food grains (including transit stock) with the government was lower at 1.051 million metric tonnes at the end of January, 2010 compared to 1.308 million metric tonnes at the end of January, 2009.