Six trucks carrying duty-free rice from India arrived at Benapole land port in Jessore on Thursday night, as part of efforts to stabilize rice prices in Bangladesh.
Over the past three days, four importers—Messrs Mahbubul Alam Food Products, Messrs Ark Trading, Messrs SMS Enterprise, and Messrs Sardar International—brought in shipments totaling 520 tons.
The rice was supplied by Indian exporters Sudharam Ayat Nirayat Pvt. Ltd, Krishna Traders, and Tapan Traders.
According to customs officials, the rice is priced at $430 per ton. Clearance paperwork has been submitted by C&F agents Hossain & Sons, Abedin Enterprise, Milan Enterprise, and Messrs Ratul International.
The imports follow a government directive allowing private importers to bring in 587,000 metric tons of rice within a month to control rising prices in retail markets.
The initiative was outlined in a November 13 circular from the Food Ministry, signed by Joint Secretary Lutfor Rahman.
The circular permits 102 companies to import rice, including 425,000 tons of parboiled rice and 162,000 tons of non-parboiled rice.
The rice must be marketed by December 10 without repackaging, and daily import, sales, and stock data must be submitted to local food offices.
Benapole-based importer Shahidul Islam noted that rice imports had been halted for a long time due to high tariffs.
"With the government’s recent removal of all tariffs, we obtained import permits and began bringing in rice. This is expected to reduce prices in the domestic market," he said.
The last rice shipment through Benapole was on December 19, 2022. Previously, rice imports were subject to a 62.5% tariff, which was later reduced to 25%. On October 31, the government fully removed the tariff on rice imports.
Hemanta Kumar Sarkar, Deputy Assistant Officer at the Plant Quarantine Center in Benapole, confirmed that among the 102 permitted importers, Jessore-based companies have already cleared significant shipments.
Messrs Mahbubul Alam Food Products and Messrs Ark Trading each cleared 105 metric tons, while Messrs SMS Enterprise cleared 100 tons.
On Thursday night, six more trucks of rice belonging to Sardar International entered the port and are expected to be cleared soon.
