The government has allowed private traders to import a total of 83,000 tonnes of parboiled and sunned rice from abroad, a move that comes more than a month after the National Board of Revenue (NBR) slashed the related import tariff.

Of the rice, 49,000 tonnes will be parboiled rice and 34,000 tonnes will be sunned rice, according to a food ministry notification.

The ministry has allowed the private sector to import rice at a time when prices of the staple grain are rising and with the harvest of the next crop, the highly irrigation based Boro rice, arriving by the end of next month.

Over the last month, prices of coarse rice, consumed mostly by low income people, rose 2.04 percent to between Tk 48 and Tk 52 per kilogramme in Dhaka. Price of medium and fine grains increased too, according to market price data collected by Trading Corporation of Bangladesh.

"We expect the price of rice will come down as a result of imports. However, it depends on how fast the traders are importing," said Md Habibur Rahman Hosaini, additional secretary for the procurement and supply wing at the food ministry.

Bangladesh produced 3.90 crore tonnes of rice in fiscal year 2022-23, which was a 2.49 percent year-on-year increase.

During the current fiscal year, farmers have already harvested Aus and rain-fed Aman rice crops. The Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS) has not released its estimate on the production of rice during these seasons.

However, the Department of Agricultural Extension estimated that overall yields of Aus and Aman rice grew in the current fiscal year compared to a year ago.

Even after that, prices went up after the harvest of Aman rice, which makes up 39 percent of the country's annual rice production.

And the NBR cut customs tariffs on rice in early February to cut import costs and encourage importers to bring the grain.

With the import permission given by the food ministry today, importers will have to market the entire supply of rice by April 25.

The food ministry said importers will need to inform district food controllers about the quantity of imported rice, stocks and marketing.

Imported rice cannot be repackaged in the name of the proprietor's organisation. Also, the rice has to be sold in imported bags, it added.