Rice import thru Benapole land port resumes after 10 months

BENAPOLE, July 18 (UNB): Rice import through Benapole land port has resumed after 10 months.
A consignment of 512 tonnes of rice entered the port on Sunday afternoon, which was released from the port on Monday morning.
M/S Belal Hossain and M/S Lipu Enterprise are importing rice at the rate of USD 340 per tonne.
Benapole customs authority has fixed import duty on fine rice at USD 450 per tonne and on coarse rice at USD 380 per tonne.
Importers are paying Tk9.90 as import duty for every kilogram of rice.
Md Motiar Rahman, Director of India-Bangladesh Chamber of Commerce (IBCC), said the government stopped importing rice from India on August 31, 2021 to ensure fair market prices of rice grown in the country.
"But prices of rice shot up after recent floods in the country. The government allowed 95 importers to import 409,000 mts of rice from India on June 30 to keep the rice market stable. Import of rice through the Benapole port began following the decision," he said.
Shamsur Rahman, President of Benapole C&F Agents Association, said that of the total amount of imported rice, boiled rice is 379,000 metric tonnes and non-boiled rice is 30,000 metric tonnes.
The food ministry has ordered to complete the LC opening process within July 21 and marketing of the imported rice within August 11, said Shamsur.
Azim Uddin, a C&F trader, said the rice consignment had to wait 17 days in the Indian land port before getting access to Benapole land port.
"Rice can be imported quickly if the consignments can get access to the port directly, which will, in turn, reduce the prices of rice in the local market," he said.