Bangladesh seeks to import more food grains as the government has floated new tenders to procure 100,000 tonnes of rice and wheat in a desperate bid to bring down local prices.
The government has invited bids from international traders to import 50,000 tonnes of non-basmati parboiled rice.
The rice tender, which closes on Jul 9, is the fourth in the outgoing fiscal 2017.
The latest tender brings the amount of rice to 200,000 tonnes Bangladesh is seeking to procure from outside in the year ending Jun 30.
The second tender floated by the state grains buyer on Tuesday is to import 50,000 tonnes of wheat. Suppliers have been told to submit bids by Jul 11.
Bangladesh initially planned to import 600,000 tonnes of rice to keep the market stable.
Until Jun 18, the government had 486,000 tonnes of food grains in stock, with rice amounting to around 181,000 tonnes.
The depleting reserves have caused rice prices to spiral out of control with millers and wholesalers blaming each other.
Bangladesh also gave the green light for a purchase of another 250,000 tonnes of rice from Vietnam under a government-to-government deal.
The government hopes rice prices will ease once imports arrive in the market.
Government data, often lower than market prices, shows a 47 percent rise in the price of coarse rice while a fine variety saw around 20 percent rise in a year.
The fine variety is currently on sale at no less than Tk 60 per kg. Last three months were the worst period when people saw a steep rise in prices of rice of almost all varieties.
According to figures by the food ministry, the flash floods damaged Boro crops, which would have yielded around 600,000 tonnes of rice. Unofficial estimates put the number at 2.2 million tonnes.
Source: bdnews24