The New Nation - Internet Edition

Pulack Ghatack

The domestic rice market is expected to become stable within a short time as the Government and the private traders have taken hectic moves for importing the essential from India and Myanmar.

Some 9,62,470 tonnes of rice were imported through Benapole, Bhomra and Darshana land-ports in the last 7 months of the current fiscal year, sources concerned said.

Rice traders are also importing 180,000 tonnes of white rice from neighbouring Myanmar. Some 30,000 tonnes of rice has already been shipped to Chittagong port and the rest will reach the country by early March, they informed.

Benapole customs sources said that importers brought some 9,62,470 tonnes of rice into Bangladesh since July 2007 till January 3, 2008. Rice traders imported some 2,16,622 tonnes of rice in January 2008 and 6,713 tonnes of rice were imported in the first three days of February this year.

The first consignment of rice from India, in a state-to-state deal, is expected to reach here by next week after New Delhi agreed to supply the commodity at the rate of US$ 399 per tonne.

The cargo will start reaching Bangladesh by the end of the month after the final approval of the decision by the two governments, officials in Dhaka said on Thursday. The shipment is expected to be completed by late March.

Bangladesh and Indian officials fixed the price after four days of talks in Kolkata on Wednesday. Bangladesh will import 500,000 tonnes of non-basmati pre-boiled rice from India in a state-to-state deal.

"India's West Bengal Essential Commodities Supply Corporation Limited will supply a total 500,000 tonnes of non-basmati pre-boiled rice with average price at $399 per tonne," Food Secretary Mohammad Ayub Miah told newsmen.

Dhaka would take steps to import rice through rail, road and river ways after it received the necessary papers from Indian authorities, he added.

India had recently lifted a ban on export of rice up to 5.5 lakh tonnes to Bangladesh following the attack of Cyclone Sidr that ravaged the country's coastlines last year.

The cyclone and two spells of flooding in July-September destroyed nearly 2.0 million tonnes of rice in the fields, according to official estimates. The Government would import one million tonnes of rice to cover the loss.

Inflation rate of food items in urban areas reached 15.77 per cent and 13.91 per cent in rural areas on point-to-point basis in December last year shooting up further the prices of essentials, especially rice and flour, Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics says.