Photo: Collected
A total of 3,320 metric tons of rice were imported from India through Benapole land port in 25 days following the withdrawal of customs duty. Abu Taher, a revenue officer at the Benapole Checkpost Cargo Branch, said eight importing companies including Mahbubul Alam Food Products, Ark Trading, and Sardar Enterprise, imported the rice.
Rice imports resumed on November 17 after a two-year hiatus, following the government's decision to lift the customs duty. The last consignment, consisting of 105 metric tons, arrived on Thursday night, completing the import of 3,320 metric tons in 97 trucks by December 12.
According to a letter signed by Lutfar Rahman, joint secretary of the Ministry of Food, 92 importing agencies were authorised to import rice privately.
The authorities allowed the import of 273,000 metric tons of parboiled rice and 119,000 metric tons of non-parboiled rice. The government set a 25-day deadline for importing and marketing the rice which expired last Thursday.
Due to the short window, many organisations were unable to complete their imports.
Shyamal Kumar Nath, deputy assistant officer of the Plant Quarantine Center at Benapole Land Port, said that the Indian government had imposed a ban on the export of both parboiled and non-parboiled rice starting July 20, 2023.
Prior to that, rice imports from India had been suspended since November 2022, when a 62% customs duty was levied on rice to discourage imports.
Messenger/JRTarek
