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5.70 lakh families to get food grains for 5 months

Govt to buy 1 lakh tonne rice from Vietnam; Rice prices drop further in 24 hours

Staff Correspondent
The government will provide 5.70 lakh poorer families with food grains for five months under VGF programme and import 1 lakh tonnes of nee from Vietnam as part of its efforts to tackle the ongoing crisis.
A meeting of the advisory council chaired by Chief Adviser Fakhruddin Ahmed yesterday also decided that under open market sale (OMS). 45.000 metric tons of rice would be sold at Tk 25 a kg throughout January.
Meanwhile, rice prices on both retail and wholesale markets yesterday marked a further drop. Retailers sold the staple at a pnee down by Tk 2-3 a kg. but it was still far from what is needed to ease public sufferings due to exorbitant prices, said market sources.
In another development, the Committee on Public Purchase has approved a proposal to buy 75,000 tonnes of rice from the international market. Finance Adviser Mirza Azizul Islam told reporters yesterday.
Foreign Adviser Iftekhar Ahmed Chowdhury in a press release the same day saidVietnam has decided to sell nee to Bangladesh though the country itself was badly hit by floods this year.
Quoting the Bangladesh ambassador in Hanoi, he said, "Vietnam may be able to sell 20,000 tonnes immediately. Procurement of the rest will follow the harvest in
February-March. To finalise the matter, a visit by a technical team from Dhaka may be necessary. "
Earlier on Saturday, the chief adviser announced that the government has been working to import 10 lakh tonnes of rice from India. Thailand and Myanmar.
The announcement to import from Vietnam comes after the decision to import 1-2 lakh tonnes from Thailand, for which tenders have already been invited.
The advisory council at yesterday's meeting also weighed the possibility of rationing food for the middle class, said sources close to the administration.
Besides, it decided to assign two officials in every district to make sure agricultural inputs like ferti-
liser, seeds and irrigation facilities reach the farmers timely for Boro cultivation.
The government s new vulnera-ble group feeding (VGF) programme will run in parallel with its special VGF programme for 26 lakh families affected by Cyclone Sidr.
Meanwhile, a high-level government delegation is set to visit New Delhi to finalise the deal to purchase 5 lakh tonnes of rice from India by January 10.
According to the committee on purchase decisions yesterday, Mannan and Brothers will import 50,000 metric tons of non-basmati rice at the cost of $ 1.98 crore whjle Mabco Foods will import 25,000
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metric tons at the cost of $96.8 lakh.
PRICES SITUATION
Wholesalers yesterday said the price of Swama. a variety imported from India, marked the largest decrease. It came down fromTk 1,250 per maund Thursday to Tk 1,100 per maund yesterday.
The price of Guti, another variety, came down toTk 1,100 fromTk 1.150 per maund while IRRI to Tk 1,080 from Tk 1,120. Prices of Nazirshail and Miniket fell by up to Tk 50 per maund.
Wholesalers said they were forced to sell at lower prices because of dwindling number of customers even though price was still high at the rice mills.
In the retail markets, the price of coarse rice dropped by at least Tk 2-3 per kilogram. Customers continued avoiding the retail outlets even after prices began to come down Saturday.
Retailers said most of the middle income group people have built up a large stock after prices soared every day over the last week
Some people told The Daily Star yesterday that they would wait for the prices to come down after open market sale (OMS) starts on January
Queues at the BDR-run fair price shops were relatively short yesterday as many people have decided to wait for the OMS, said sources
Flour prices went up byTk 2 per kilogram as packs of two kilogram were selling at Tk 86-88. up from Tk 82-84 two days ago.