Govt to buy some items in advance for Ramadan

The government is going to buy some commodities in advance for operating its essential sale drive for the upcoming Ramadan, sources said.
As part of the move, the commerce ministry plans to purchase required chickpea and dates from the global market for its Trading Corporation of Bangladesh (TCB) which will sell the goods among 10 million cardholder families.
The sate-run TCB fears that supply of two items may be disrupted during the fasting month if the government does not start the procurement drive, according to a document.
Currently, the TCB is selling 05 kg of rice (supplied by the Food Department), 02 kg of lentils, 02 litres of soybean oil at subsidised prices to the 10 million low-income families. Besides, sugar, gram, dates, etc. are sold at affordable prices during the holy month. These products are procured every month as per annual procurement plan following the Public Procurement Act 2006 and the Public Procurement Rules 2008.
According to the annual purchase plan, it is necessary to establish contact with the suppliers/exporting countries for the purpose of procurement of chickpeas and dates before the next fasting month so that the actual suppliers of such items can participate in the TCB's international tender system.
When contacted, a high official said, "We've planned to hold a virtual meeting with commercial councillors under the ministry located in different chickpea and dates exporting countries like Turkey, Egypt, Australia, Canada, India, Iran, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Egypt, Algeria and Iraq." The proposed meeting is likely to organise to ensure proper availability of chickpeas and dates during Ramadan so that councillors can discuss this with respective exporters, he added.
The TCB is currently selling some essential items at subsidised rates for 10 million people, with around 30-32 per cent of the country's population benefiting from the programme.
The annual demands for chickpea and dates are more than 0.1 million tonnes and 20,000 tonnes respectively.
Of the amount, some 80,000 tonnes and 18,000 chickpea and dates are required alone for the holy month correspondingly.

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