Rice traders who were allowed by the food ministry to import rice by a limited timeframe have been accused of delaying the start of rice import.
Although the government set a conditional time for rice import, many people could not bring rice to the market within the stipulated time. According to traders, opening of the Letter of Credit (LC) is being delayed due to the code complexity of the National Board of Revenue (NBR).
However, the food ministry on Saturday issued a notice extending the deadline for opening LC to import rice till January 31.
The government allowed traders to import thousands of tonnes of rice from abroad to curb the rice price.
Government policymakers have said that at least 1.5 million tonnes of rice need to be imported until the next Boro harvest to bring the market price of rice stable.
However, they also said that prices will continue to fall if imported rice comes to the market in large quantities.
It is learnt that about 300 businessmen who have applied between January 3 to January 10, have been approved to import about one million tonnes of rice. Depending on the quantity they are given the condition to import rice within a month from the date of approval.
However, despite getting permission, most importers have not started the necessary process, including the opening of LCs, said, government officials.
Talking to some rice importers it was learnt that, suddenly coarse rice price in India has gone up, for what they were not prepared. In that case, some of them said, as they have purchased rice earlier in India and opening LC later, after importing rice in the country they are likely to remain at breakeven point.
Food secretary Mosammat Nazmanara Khanum told the Bangladesh Post, “Our rice production volume is satisfactory. Despite that, we are importing rice which is likely to come to market very soon. Everyone is working together to bring the rice price under purchasing capacity”.
Meanwhile, although the process of importing rice has started at both government and non-government levels, it has not had much impact on the retail market.
Visiting the capital’s kitchen markets, it was found that, coarse rice is selling at Tk 48 to Tk 50 per kilogram (kg), Atash rice Tk 50, Paijam is Tk 55, Nazirshail 65, Miniket is selling at Tk 60 per kg.
Rice wholesalers in Karwan Bazar informed that non-basmati rice imported from India has started coming to the market last Tuesday.
