Nearly 1000 trucks carrying Indian rice enter Bangladesh

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FHM Humayan Kabir
Nearly 1000 trucks carrying Indian rice entered Bangladesh through the land ports Wednesday after New Delhi eased restrictions on the exports of its non-Basmati rice, local importers said.
They are part of several thousands trucks which were stranded across Benapole, Hili, Bhomra, Sonamasjid and Darshana land ports after the Indian government imposed curbs on the export of rice from the country on February 7.
"Until this (Wednesday) evening as many as 525 trucks entered our territory through the Benapole landport in Jessore and the Bhomra landport in Satkhira district," customs commissioner Abdullahel Kafi said.
"In the two ports, hundreds of trucks still remained stranded in the Indian side of the border," he said.
Other trucks carrying rice entered the country through the Sonamasjid, Hili and Burimari land ports in the northern Bangladesh, importers said.
Top trader Abdul Gafur said he ordered import of 48,000 tonnes of rice from India before the ban was imposed. Thousands of trucks carrying his imported rice were stranded across the Sonamasjid, Hili and Darshana land ports.
"But the Indian authorities today released only 6,100 tonnes of my total import. Only the rice that is priced above 500 dollars a tonne has been released. I hope the rest would be released very soon," Gafur said.
Traders said they did not know how much of their imported rice was stranded across the border, but bankers said more than 100,000 tonnes of rice have been awaiting clearance from the Indian authorities.
"Our branch alone has opened letter of credit for the import of nearly 100,000 tonnes of rice before the Indian government imposed the restrictions," said Joynal Abedin Chowdhury, who heads the Bogra branch of the state-owned Basic Bank Limited.
"I am afraid most of the rice has now been stranded across the border," he said.
Officials said the lifting of the curbs on Indian exports would ease the price pressure in Bangladesh where rice is the staple food for more than 99 per cent people.
"Yesterday, the government has approved the import of half a million tonnes of rice from India. And today we have the reports that Indian authorities are allowing rice-laden trucks to enter Bangladesh," a senior government official said Wednesday.
"We hope such a huge inflow of rice in the domestic market would cool down prices in the local market," he said.
The government's top purchasing committee led by Finance adviser approved the import of the rice from the Indian state agencies on Tuesday with each tonne costing 399 dollars.
Government officials said bulk of Indian rice would arrive in the country within the next two months.
Importers quoting private exporters in India told the FE that New Delhi would decide the fate of the rest of Bangladeshi imports in the next four-five days.