Govt moves fast to replenish rice supply

---

FHM Humayan Kabir and Jasim Uddin Haroon
The government is set to approve import of nearly 600,000 tonnes of rice today (Tuesday) as part of an intensified move to cool down soaring price of the staple food in the local market, officials said Monday.
The move came as private importers said they have imported nearly 100,000 tonnes of rice since the beginning of the new year while ships carrying another 20,000 tonnes would land in the Chittagong Port within a week.
"The advisory committee on government purchase is expected to approve import of 500,000 tonnes of rice worth about $200 million from India tomorrow (Tuesday)," said food secretary Ayub Miah.
"The first consignment of the Indian rice will arrive here this month. This will have an immediate impact on the supply situation. I am sure it will bring down the prices in the local market," Miah told the FE.
India has already said its latest ban on rice export will not have any impact on the export of the half a million tonnes of rice it promised to Bangladesh.
The officials of the two countries have settled the price of the rice at an average 399 dollars a tonne after two rounds of talks in India.
Bangladeshi officials have been staying in India since February 3 and they will sign the purchase deal as soon as it gets approval from the advisory committee.
India had pledged to supply the amount to Bangladesh following a request from Dhaka, which faced a huge shortfall of rice due to the two successive floods in July-August and a devastating cyclone in November last year.
The agriculture ministry said some two million tonnes of rice, worth around 600 million dollars, were destroyed in the twin disasters, sending the prices of the staple food to more than 60 per cent high since last July.
Officials said the purchase committee, led by the finance adviser, would also approve the import of an additional 67,000 tonnes of rice on Tuesday, as the government was determined to replenish its buffer stock.
The move from the government came as the country's private traders said they imported nearly 100,000 tonnes of rice since January.
According to the Chittagong Port, private traders imported 43,764 tonnes of rice in January and 23,235 tonnes in the first eight days of February.
Unloading of nearly 21,000 tonnes of rice was going on from three vessels as the report goes to the press, the port official said.
Port officials said three more vessels carrying 11,000 tonnes of rice from Myanmar would arrive within this week amid intensified import by the private traders.
Importers said they intensified rice import from Myanmar and Pakistan where the price was still moderate compared to India and other traditional import sources such as Thailand.
Leading trading house Imam Group said it alone imported 70,000 tonnes of rice since December from Myanmar through the river route.
"Another consignment carrying 4500 tonnes will arrive at Chittagong port within the next two weeks," Mohammad Ali, chairman of the group, said.
"We are now importing rice from Myanmar as the prices there are lower than other rice exporting countries," Ali said.
Currently, the price of Myanmar rice ranges between US$ 350 and $365 per tonne.
Food secretary Ayub Miah said the 'huge import' of rice would stabilise prices in the local until the Boro harvest in late April and May.
"There will be no supply shortage till the next harvest," said Miah.
"And there will be no reason why rice price will jump after the arrival of such a huge amount of rice in weeks. The government is determined to keep the supply situation smooth and monitor the market," Miah said.