Bangladesh needs to import millions of tonnes of rice despite increase in production

There is a chance of record production of rice this year. As compared to last year, the rice production may increase by two per cent to 36,320,000 tonnes this year. Despite that, the country will need to import 1,500,000 tonnes of rice, wheat and corn. But it will be difficult to import wheat amid the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war. The country might need to pay extra for that.

The US Department of Agriculture revealed this information in a report on the production of food grain in Bangladesh. The report, published on Thursday, says that Bangladesh may face problems in importing phosphate fertiliser in the coming Aman season. This is because Bangladesh usually imports 30 per cent of its total demand for phosphate fertiliser from Russia. On the other hand, some 40 per cent of the total wheat imports comes from Russia and Ukraine. However, it is not possible to import these products from the two countries at the moment. We have to look for alternative sources in this regard, but prices are rising fast there as well.

The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) published a report on the rise of food prices on Friday. It says after 1990, the price of foods worldwide was the highest in the month of March this year. The price of food may rise further in April. A huge number of people are going to be in trouble because of this. Another FAO report states that food prices are rising rapidly in Bangladesh as well.

The FAO director also feared a rise in food prices all over the world as an impact of the Russia-Ukraine war. He remarked that six countries, including Bangladesh and Egypt, are at the highest risk in this regard.

Asked about this, agriculture minister Abdur Razzaque told Prothom Alo said that the government is paying a huge subsidy for the collection of paddy and rice and the distribution of fertiliser. The amount of the subsidy is increasing with the rise of agricultural products. Essentials like fertiliser and wheat would be imported from alternative sources. The farmers of the country won’t face any problem.

According to the report of the FAO, the price of coarse rice in Bangladesh in March was Tk 47.5 per kg which was one and a half per cent higher as compared to the previous year.

The price of medium quality rice was around Tk 66 per kg on average which was around 5.6 per cent higher than the price in the previous year at the same time.

Citing local media, the report said that one of the main reasons for the high price of rice is that many big companies have embarked on rice business. the price has gone up as they hoarded huge amounts of rice.

Meanwhile, according to the daily food grain report of the Ministry of Food on 7 April, the government warehouse has a stock of 1577,000 tons of food. In the last two months, it has decreased by about 500,000 tons. As a result of increasing the distribution of rice and wheat in the government's social security program, stocks have decreased, which will decrease further in the coming days. However, these reserves are still considered to be sufficient.

Speaking to Prothom Alo regarding this, AMM Shawkat Ali, former secretary of the agriculture ministry, said it was presumed that the Russia-Ukraine war would have an impact on the food market. Now the prices of wheat and fertiliser have gone up and it can increase further in the coming days. Therefore, Bangladesh will have to move towards alternative markets in the long run. For this we have to increase our diplomatic efforts.

According to the USDA report, Bangladesh might have to import 7.5 million tons of wheat, 2.3 million tonnes of corn and 700,000 tons of rice. Bangladesh will need a total of 37 million tonnes of rice this year which is one per cent higher than the last year.

The consumption of wheat and rice has also increased during the pandemic, the organisation reported. It thinks that Bangladesh will import these products from India as an alternative to Russia and Ukraine.