The caretaker government has started a feasibility study on setting up rice mills in Myanmar with a view to finding an alternative source for importing boiled rice, said a senior commerce ministry official Monday.
The agricultural ministry was assigned to work on the issue when Myanmar agreed to export 1.0 million tonnes of rice to Bangladesh several months back.
The willingness of the Myanmar military ruler to sell rice came as a welcome news for the country in the backdrop of ban imposed on rice export by major rice exporting nations like India, Thailand, Vietnam and China.
However, rice exported by Myanmar is not boiled whereas most people in Bangladesh consume boiled rice.
The official said: "Establishment of mills may solve the problem relating to the availability of boiled rice in Myanmar. Such an arrangement can be done under the existing contract farming."
Dhaka and Yangon agreed on contract farming by which Bangladesh private sector entrepreneurs could cultivate follow land in Myanmar to grow different crops.
The agricultural ministry will determine the capacity and the cost of setting up rice mills, said the official.
The country needs an alternative import source for boiled rice after India, only source of such rice, which announced suspension on rice export in February last.
According to the food and disaster management ministry, the country private sector imported 1.68 million tonnes of rice between 1 July 2007 and 11 June, 2008.
The quantity was 0.69 million tonne in the 2006-07.
The substantial increase in rice import is attributed to the losses of rice worth US$ 600 million to the two rounds of floods and cyclone Sidr in the last part of 2007.
Experts, however, have suggested that the country would have to rely on to meet the demand for at least 2.0 million tones of rice through import.
Myanmar is good option for the country as a new import source for rice after Dhaka has already decided to double the limit of border trade for a single trader to $20,000 with that country.
