Dhaka: The government has decided to procure three lakh tonnes of Aman rice from the internal market this season and the procurement drive will start by the first week of this month. 

An inter-ministerial committee at a meeting held at the Food Ministry on Sunday decided to procure 2.5 lakh tonnes of boiled rice at Tk 26 per kg and 50,000 tonnes of non-boiled rice at Tk 25 per kg from the internal market, said a handout.

The procurement drive will continue until February next, the meeting decided.

Speaking at the meeting, Food Minister Dr Abdur Razzak said there are about 14.50 lakh tonnes of food grains in stock now, including 12 lakh tonnes of rice and 50,000 tonnes of wheat.

As the storage capacity of public silos is only 17 lakh tonnes, the government is unable to procure much rice from the internal market, the minister said adding that the limited quantity of the government’s procurement is thus failing to have any impact on the market price.

The Food Minister also informed the meeting that the country saved an amount of about Tk 10,000 core as the government did not import any rice for the last two years.

The meeting also decided to resume the limited export of aromatic rice.

President over by the Food Minister, the meeting was also attended by Finance Minister AMA Muhith, Agriculture Minister Matia Chowdhury, Commerce Minister GM Quader and the Secretaries of the concerned ministries.

Ends/AMA/02/12/12