Bangladesh’s state grains agency issued an international tender to purchase 50,000 tonnes of rice on Monday, its first buying tender in three years amid a surge in prices of the staple grain.

The deadline to submit offers is November 26, with validity up to December 10. The rice is to be shipped within 40 days of signing the contract, according to the tender document and officials at the purchasing agency.

Bangladesh, grappling with dwindling supplies and a spike in domestic prices due to the coronavirus outbreak, plans to import 300,000 tonnes of rice, a senior food ministry official said.

The rain-fed rice output or Aman crop is expected to fall as much as 15 per cent this year, due to repeated floods and excessive rainfalls, a senior official at the Agriculture Ministry said.

A recent domestic rice procurement drive by the government fell nearly 1 million tonne short of the 1.95-million tonne target.

Bangladesh, the world’s third-biggest rice producer with nearly 35-million tonne output a year, relied on imports to cope with shortages caused by natural disasters such as floods or drought.

comment COMMENT NOW