State-run Bangladesh Shipping Corporation (BSC)’s cargo ship “Banglar Kakoli” carrying 12,500-MT of rice is expected to leave Chittagong Port for Colombo today, Chittagong Port sources said.
Bangladesh for the first time will be exporting 12,500 tonnes of rice to Sri Lanka as part of an agreement between the two countries to export 50,000-MT of rice to Sri Lanka.
Jahirul Islam, an official of the Food Department, Chittagong zone, said the shipment of the rice was completed and the ship would start for Colombo Port in the morning.
According to the Food Ministry, encouraged by a bumper yield and good stocks at home, the government decided to export at least 50,000-MT of rice, first of its kind since the independence, to Sri Lanka in the current fiscal year.
In response to a proposal to import boiled rice by the Sri Lankan High Commissioner to Bangladesh, Bangladesh signed a pact on August 26 to export 50,000 tonnes of rice to Sri Lanka in a first government-to-government deal.
According to the Food Department, Bangladesh exports aromatic rice every year, but boiled rice would be exported for the first time.
Bangladesh aims to produce more than 34 million tonnes of rice this year. Its reserves have risen to more than 1.2 million tonnes from nearly 1 million tonnes a year earlier.
The world’s fourth-biggest rice producer, Bangladesh consumes almost all its production to feed its population of 160 million.
Bangladesh has so far exported only aromatic rice in small quantities.
In the last two fiscal years, export of aromatic rice amounted to Tk77 crore, according to government statistics.
This year, rice production has been satisfactory fulfilling the demand of the local market.
