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Download PDF With rice import from India remaining suspended for the second day yesterday, the government said a process has been initiated to persuade the Indian authority so that its decision to stop rice export does not affect imports under L/Cs (letters of credit) opened already.
Hundreds of lorries carrying consignments of rice for Bangladesh remained stranded at the Petrapole port in India as several meetings between the Indian exporters and customs officials failed to reach any decision regarding resuming export to Bangladesh.
Authorities of both the countries, however, said yesterday that the Indian government’s decision to suspend rice export will not hamper the export of 5 lakh tonnes of rice to Bangladesh as pledged after cyclone Sidr.
Reacting to some recent newspaper reports, the High Commission of India yesterday said the restriction on export of non-Basmati rice is “applicable to all countries, and is not specific to Bangladesh”.
The February 7 notification will not affect procurement of the 5 lakh tonnes of rice by Bangladesh government and the process of the procurement is underway, the Indian High Commission said in a press release.
The halt in rice import from India following the February 7 notification has meanwhile caused apprehension of further hike in rice price.
“India banned rice export by private exporters. It is their internal matter,” Food and Disaster Management Adviser AMM Shawkat Ali told reporters yesterday.
But this will not hamper the import of 5 lakh tonnes of rice from India as pledged by the Indian government after Sidr attack, Shawkat said.
Asked about the future of the L/Cs already opened for rice import, the adviser said he has written a letter to the foreign ministry, asking it to persuade the Indian authority to help execute the already opened L/Cs.
Our Benapole correspondent reports that many rice-laden lorries stranded at Petrapole started unloading at different rice depots in Bongaon for fear of counting demurrage.
Rice traders of both the countries are disappointed at the restriction. Many L/Cs of Bangladeshi importers are lying with the Indian exporters.
“If needed, we will fight against the suspension of rice export in court,” Nirmal Shikari, an Indian rice exporter, said after several meetings with the Indian customs ended without any result.
On Thursday, 4,800 tonnes of rice were imported through the Benapole port while a process of unloading those was on yesterday.
A total of 1.23 lakh tonnes of rice was imported through the port during January 1-February 7.
On October 15 last year, India imposed a restriction on exporting rice under $425 per tonne. Later on December 31, it banned exporting rice to Bangladesh under $505 a tonne and imposed a levy on the Indian rice mill owners on January 10.
Importers expressed worry that the suspension of rice import would result in further price hike in local markets.
The food adviser, however, told reporters that the government is monitoring the market to control the prices of essentials.
The government gave orders for importing another 2.10 lakh tonnes of rice through alternative ways to help make the market stable while the process of procuring 5 lakh tonnes of rice from India on government level is underway, Shawkat said.
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