TCB to procure 8,000 MT lentil from India

Trading Corporation of Bangladesh (TCB) will procure 8,000 metric tons of lentil to sell through its open market sale programme.

The lentils will be imported from India to continue supplying at local market at subsidized prices during the Ramadan. The procurement will cost Tk76 crore.

Sources said Agrico Trading Private Limited will supply these pulses from Chennai, India.

According to sources from the Ministry of Commerce, there is an insufficiency in the supply of lentils in recent times. In this context, many tenders have been called for the purchase of lentils on an urgent basis in the international open tender system in the last few months, but no response has been received against some of them. In some cases, the proposed rate is higher than the local market rate. Due to these reasons, lentils are being bought through direct purchase method to meet the urgent needs.

The sources also said that TCB's lentil purchase target was 2.88 lakh metric tons in the current financial year 2023-2024. The contract to purchase 1.52 lakh metric tons of lentils has been completed against the total target. Besides, proposal to buy 14,000 MT of lentils is under process.