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Year-on-year import of rice increased 31.59 times in the first nine months of the current fiscal year 2020-2021 with a view to strengthening the stock at government warehouses and containing the soaring price of the staple food on the retail market.
The value of imported rice in July-March of FY21 rose by $513.9 million to $530.7 million against $16.8 million in the same period of FY20, the latest Bangladesh Bank data showed.
Rice import spiked after the government decided in December 2020 to allow private businesses to import rice from abroad.
In a bid to facilitate import of the commodity and to boost stock, the government reduced the import duty on rice to 25 per cent from 62.5 per cent.
A food ministry update showed that 7,37,820 tonnes of rice were imported in the July-March period of FY21. Of the amount, the private sector imported 5,21,500 tonnes and the government imported 2,16,620 tonnes.
Import of another 50,000 tonnes of parboiled rice from India is in the final stages, officials of the food ministry said.
They also said that the ministry was trying to enhance the stock of rice at the government warehouses by purchasing the staple from local and international markets.
As the newly-harvested boro rice has started entering the local market, it would help the government to procure the staple from the local market and to contain the price on the retail market, the officials said.
Even after the move, prices of the staple have remained significantly high on the retail market in recent times compared with the prices in January 2020.
As per the Trading Corporation of Bangladesh data, the fine variety of Miniket rice sold for 60-64 a kg on Friday while the variety sold for Tk 55-60 a kg on January 3, 2020.
With the coronavirus outbreak leading to income erosion, the sharp increase in rice prices has caused sufferings among people from mostly middle- and low-income groups.
The stock of the staple food plunged to a record low of 4.62 lakh tonnes on April 20 this year, the lowest after 2008 when the stock dropped to 2.8 lakh tonnes.
The country’s overall spending against food grains, including wheat import, rose by 40.99 per cent to $1.9 billion in July-March of FY21 against its spending of $1.35 billion in the same period of FY20 mainly due to a sharp increase in rice imports.
Wheat import increased by 2.9 per cent to $1.37 billion during the period under consideration in FY21 against the import of $1.33 billion in the same period of FY20.
