Importing rice by October 30 mandatory

Staff Reporter :
The government has started taking measures to control gush of rice price by importing rice as quick as possible from abroad.
The consumers and the traders are saying repeatedly that the rice market is still volatile even though the government reduced tariff on import.
The retailers claim that they have to buy rice of per sack at the increased rate of Tk 50 toTk100 from the wholesalers. Consequently, they are also selling rice at increased rate.
In this circumstance, the Ministry of Food has made it mandatory to import rice by October 30. AccordinglyiIt sent a letter to the food department on Friday last asking to take steps in this regard.
The ministry said in the letter that those traders who opened LC but have not imported rice yet, they have to do it by October 30. It also warned that the date would not be extended any more.
Earlier, the government decided to import rice reducing tariff to contain price of rice. The ministry of food requested the National Bureau of Revenue on July 6 to reduce tariff on importing rice from abroad.
The NBR issued a circular in this connection on August 12. The NBR reduced tariff from 62.5 percent to 25 percent, the notice said. The facility of reduction of the tariff would remain active till October 30, the notice said.