A meeting of the advisory council committee on economic affairs on Tuesday agreed in principle to import 6 lakh tonnes of rice and wheat and advisory council committee on purchase approved buying 50,000 tonnes of non-Basmati rice to strengthen the government food stock.
The committee approved a proposal from the ministry of food to reduce timeline of the submission of documents by 15 days from 42 days for participating in the international tenders for importing 3 lakh tonnes of rice.
Finance adviser Salehuddin Ahmed who presided over the meeting at secretariat also chaired a meeting of the government purchase at the same place to approve import of 50,000 tonnes of non-Basmati rice.
The rice will be supplied by Aditya Birla Global Trading Pte Ltd of Singapore that quoted $354.19 for per tonne in the international tender of the Ministry of Food.
The overall cost of the rice has been estimated at Tk 216.90 crore.
Earlier, the advisory council committee on economic affairs also approved another proposal from the ministry of food to import 3 lakh tonnes of wheat under the government to government negotiation.
The wheat is likely to be imported from the United States under the memorandum of understanding signed in July between director general of the Food Department and the US Wheat Association on import of 7 lakh tonnes of wheat annually for the next five years.
The director general of the Food Department has already ordered for around 4.4 lakh tonnes wheat from the US, of which 178,636 tonnes have already reached country in three consignments.聽聽聽聽
The finance adviser noted that the present government was determined to strengthen the government food buffer.
He also noted that the government food stock had been always suitable for the market monitoring.
One of the major responsibilities of food ministry is procurement, storage and movement of food-grains, such as paddy, rice, wheat and maize to maintain an adequate public food grain stock for national food security as well as for distribution through Public Food Distribution System as price incentive for domestic production and price support for consumers.
The advisory council committee on government purchase in its meeting also approved importing 2.20 lakh tonnes of fertiliser to ensure uninterrupted supply ahead of the upcoming cultivation season.
Of the approved proposals, Karnaphuli Fertiliser Company Limited will supply 30,000 tonnes of urea at Tk 143.30 crore, SABIC Agri-nutrients Company of Saudi Arabia will supply 40,000 tonnes bulk granular urea at Tk 194.55 crore, Banyan International Trading Limited, China will 40,000 tonnes of聽 Di-Ammonium Phosphate at Tk 350.59 crore, MA鈥橝DEN of Saudi Arabia will supply two consignments 40,000 tonnes of聽 Di-Ammonium Phosphate with each at Tk 350.22 crore, OCP Nutricrops of Morocco will supply 30,000 Triple Super Phosphate at Tk 190.09 crore.
The advisory council committee on government purchase also approved a proposal from ministry of industries to establish a warehouse in Satkhira. SS Rahman International won the tender bid quoting Tk 55.25 crore.
Besides, the advisory council committee on government approved a proposal from Petrobangla to import one cargo if Liquefied Natural Gas from the spot market.
BP Singapore Pt, Limited of Singapore will supply the LNG at Tk 489.88 crore with per unit costing $11.46.
This will be 49th cargo for the current calendar year.