Govt to import 2 lakh tonnes of rice, wheat

Special Correspondent: The government has taken a decision to import soon 1.50 lakh tonnes of boiled rice and 50,000 tonnes of wheat from India and Korea.

The Cabinet Committee on Government Purchase (CCGP) on Wednesday gave approval to two separate proposals at a meeting in this regard at the cabinet division with Finance Minister AMA Muhith in the chair.

"The government will procure 1.50 lakh tonnes of non-basmati boiled rice from the National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India (NAFED)under government-to-government level agreement," Mustafizur Rahman, Additional Secretary of the Cabinet Division, told journalists after the meeting.

"The procurement price for per tonne rice has been fixed at US$440. So, the cost will be Taka 547.80 crore to purchase the rice," he added.

He said the government will also procure 50,000 tonnes of wheat from Korean Singsong Food Corporation.

"As a ton of wheat $245.35, the cost would be Taka 101.82 crore for procuring the wheat," he added.

risingbd/Dhaka/Dec 6, 2017/Hasnat/AI