Food ministry allows private import of 83,000 tonnes of rice
The Ministry of Food says imported rice must be sold in sacks, and cannot be repackaged with the name of the owner.
The Ministry of Food has granted permission to 30 companies for the private import of 83,000 tonnes of rice.
According to a notification issued by the ministry on Thursday, of the total import, 49,000 tonnes will be boiled rice and 34,000 tonnes will be atap (parboiled) rice.
The companies have been authorised to import under the condition that all rice is circulated in the domestic market by 25 April. Importers are not permitted to issue an IP (Import Permit) exceeding the allocation.
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The Ministry of Food stipulates that imported rice must be sold in sacks and cannot be repackaged with the name of the owner.
On 8 February, the government reduced import duties on rice to allow the private sector to import. At that time the National Board of Revenue completely withdrew the 25% import duty on rice. It also reduced the regulatory duty on imports from 25% to 5%.
The facility will be valid till 15 May.
As per the Trading Corporation of Bangladesh's latest market analysis data, fine rice prices increased by 1.48%, medium fine rice prices by 2.86% and coarse rice prices increased by 2.04% over the past one month
