By Ruma Paul DHAKA, Jan 24 (Reuters) - Bangladesh will purc
By Ruma Paul
DHAKA, Jan 24 (Reuters) – Bangladesh will purchase 100,000 tonnes of rice from Myanmar, placing apart a rift over the Rohingya refugee disaster as the federal government races to beat a scarcity of the staple meals for the nation’s greater than 160 million individuals.
Excessive rice costs pose an issue for the Dhaka authorities, which is ramping up efforts to replenish its depleted reserves after floods final 12 months ravaged crops and despatched costs to a document excessive.
Muslim-majority Bangladesh and principally Buddhist Myanmar have been at odds over the greater than 1 million Muslim Rohingya refugees in camps in southern Bangladesh. The overwhelming majority of them fled Myanmar in 2017 from a military-led crackdown that U.N investigators mentioned was executed with “genocidal intent” – assertions that Myanmar denies.
Bangladesh will import white rice in a government-to-government deal at $485 a tonne, together with price, insurance coverage and freight (CIF) liner out foundation, mentioned Mosammat Nazmanara Khanum, the secretary on the nation’s meals ministry.
“Our predominant precedence is to carry down the costs of rice,” Khanum advised Reuters on Sunday, including the federal government might purchase as a lot as 10 million tonnes whereas personal merchants are allowed to purchase one other 10 million tonnes within the 12 months to June.
The deal will probably be signed quickly and the rice will probably be delivered by April in phases, she mentioned.
Bangladesh can be shopping for 150,000 tonnes of rice from India’s state-run agency NAFED in a government-to-government deal whereas it has issued a collection of tender to purchase the grain.
“We might purchase extra rice from India in state-to-state offers,” Khanum mentioned, including that the Meals Ministry was holding talks with a number of different Indian state businesses.
Bangladesh, historically the world’s third-biggest rice producer with round 35 million tonnes yearly, makes use of virtually all its manufacturing to feed its individuals. It nonetheless typically requires imports to deal with shortages attributable to floods or droughts.
(Reporting by Ruma Paul; Modifying by William Mallard)
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