Govt to import rice from Thailand

Hassan Mahmud: The government is now going to import rice from Thailand to keep the market stable. For this, the Food Ministry will sign a deal with Thailand. The Ministry has already finalised a draft of the memorandum of understanding (MoU) in this regard.

According to Food Ministry sources, the government has taken the decision to keep steady the market. The rice will be imported under government-to-government (G-to-G) business policy.

It has been discussed in the forth two-day joint trade committee (JTC) meeting being held at the capital's Pan Pasifice Sonargaon Hotel between the two countries.

The meeting will end by a joint press conference with the attendance of Commerce Ministers of both countries at the same venue on Thursday.

Though the Food Ministry has already prepared a draft of MoU in this regard, how much rice will be imported from Thailand was yet not finalised, according to the ministry sources.

However, a reliable source of the ministry told risingbd that Bangladesh government has taken a plan of importing 10 lakh tones of rice.

Sumon Mehedi, Senior Information and Public Relation Officer of the Food Ministry, told risingbd that the ministry has taken a plan of signing a big deal with Thailand to import rice. The term of the deal may be for five years. However, all issues will be settled in the meeting to be held around 2:30pm on Thursday.

Meanwhile a report by Thai newspaper "The Bangkok Post" published in the middle of July revealed that the Bangladesh government will import two lakh tones of rice from the country on emergency basis.

Quoting rice exporting organisations of the country, the report read, Bangladesh wants to import two separate qualities of rice from Thailand. The rice containing 5 percent white will cost $410 while 100 percent of white will cost $439.


risingbd/Dhaka/August 09, 2017/Hassan/A K Azad