Rice shipments to arrive in 75 days: adviser

Dhaka, Feb 12 (bdprem.com)—Shipments of five lakh tonnes of rice to be imported from India through the government channel will reach Bangladesh in 75 days from now, an adviser said Tuesday. Your Ad Here The prices of rice have been set at $399 per tonne on average. A proposal was approved at a meeting of the cabinet committee on public purchase Tuesday, chaired by finance adviser AB Mirza Azizul Islam at the secretariat. At a post-meeting news conference, the adviser said the government would use four routes—road, rail, river and sea—to bring in all the shipments, with 1.25 lakh tonnes of rice in each installment on each route. The shipment by sea will cost $414, and shipments carried by train and road will cost $388 per tonne. The shipment by river will be $400, the adviser said. "All the shipments will reach the country in 75 days from now," Azizul said. Replying to a question, the adviser said the foreign affairs ministry and the food ministry are jointly trying to talk the Indian government into withdrawing the ban on exports of non-Basmati rice through private channels. Indian high commissioner Pinak Ranjan Chakravarty said Monday that India was likely to approve shipments of rice against the L/Cs opened before Feb 7 by Bangladesh businessmen. In an interview with Voice of America, the Indian envoy said it seemed that there would be no problem about the L/Cs opened before Feb 7 when India imposed restrictions on the exports of non-basmati rice through private channels.