Bangladesh to buy Myanmar rice, putting aside Rohingya crisis

[Black_cats]

SUN JAN 24, 2021 / 6:07 AM EST
Bangladesh to buy Myanmar rice, putting aside Rohingya crisis
Ruma Paul

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General view of a rice field in a valley in Nyaung Shwe, Shan state, Myanmar, November 6, 2019.
REUTERS/ANN WANG

DHAKA (Reuters) - Bangladesh will buy 100,000 tonnes of rice from Myanmar, putting aside a rift over the Rohingya refugee crisis as the government races to overcome a shortage of the staple food for the country's more than 160 million people.

High rice prices pose a problem for the Dhaka government, which is ramping up efforts to replenish its depleted reserves after floods last year ravaged crops and sent prices to a record high.

Muslim-majority Bangladesh and mostly Buddhist Myanmar have been at odds over the more than 1 million Muslim Rohingya refugees in camps in southern Bangladesh. The vast majority of them fled Myanmar in 2017 from a military-led crackdown that U.N investigators said was executed with "genocidal intent" - assertions that Myanmar denies.

Bangladesh will import white rice in a government-to-government deal at $485 a tonne, including cost, insurance and freight (CIF) liner out basis, said Mosammat Nazmanara Khanum, the secretary at the country's food ministry.

"Our main priority is to bring down the prices of rice," Khanum told Reuters on Sunday, adding the government could buy as much as 10 million tonnes while private traders are allowed to buy another 10 million tonnes in the year to June.
The deal will be signed soon and the rice will be delivered by April in phases, she said.

Bangladesh is also buying 150,000 tonnes of rice from India's state-run firm NAFED in a government-to-government deal while it has issued a series of tender to buy the grain.

"We could buy more rice from India in state-to-state deals," Khanum said, adding that the Food Ministry was holding talks with several other Indian state agencies.

Bangladesh, traditionally the world's third-biggest rice producer with around 35 million tonnes annually, uses almost all its production to feed its people. It still often requires imports to cope with shortages caused by floods or droughts.

 

[Homo Sapiens]

Bangladesh, traditionally the world's third-biggest rice producer with around 35 million tonnes annually, uses almost all its production to feed its people.

I find it very odd that despite producing 35 million Tons of rice we still need to import. Thirty-five million tons means per capita Rice availability 212 kg per person per year. This is higher than Indian per capita rice+wheat availability. India produce around 280 million ton of Rice+Wheat+other cereals(per capita 203 kg per year) feeding 1.38 billion people, still manage to export 10 million ton of Rice. If we were following the Indian example, instead of importing, Bangladesh should be able to export several million tons of Rice each year, even after flood damage, Bangladesh should not need to import. This rice import do not make any sense, this is despite the fact that Bangladesh is one of the largest wheat importer in the world, importing around 6 million tons.

A normal person do not need to eat 180-200 kg cereal per year even if it is mainly a cereal based diet. People in the developed world consume around 100 kg cereal per year. On the other hand, our per capita Rice+wheat availability is around 250kg/per person/per year. Still need to import from India, Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam etc.

So the question is, what is the problem? Do Bangladeshi people eat excessive? or rice rot more than other countries post harvest? or there are some inconsistency in data collection on production quantities?

 

[Homo Sapiens]

Per capita rice consumption in Bangladesh to be highest in Asia in 2021: FAO

In 2020-21, per capita rice consumption in the country will be 181.3kg per year

tbsnews.net

Per capita rice consumption in Bangladesh to be highest in Asia in 2021: FAO
In 2020-21, per capita rice consumption in the country will be 181.3kg per year

File Photo of rice. Picture: Collected

The average per capita rice consumption in Bangladesh was second highest in Asia from 2016 to 2019 and it will be the highest in Asia by 2020-21, according to a new report published by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations on Thursday.

In 2020-21, per capita rice consumption in the country will be 181.3kg per year, showed the UN's specialised agency's report titled the "The Food Outlook."

Despite various challenges posed by the Covid-19 pandemic and floods, Bangladesh's rice production is set to reach 36.8 million tonne in 2020.

During the 2016-18 period, Bangladesh's average rice production per year was 35.3 million tonne.

According to the report, world rice production is set to reach 508.7 million tonne in 2020.

Per capita rice consumption was highest in Myanmar – 180.9 kg per year, while the amount for Bangladesh was 179.9 kg per year during 2016-19 period, while the world average was 53.5kg per year per capita during the period.

Bangladesh's cereal production is estimated to be 41.5 million tonne in 2019, while it was 39.5 million tonne on an average from 2016 to 2018. It will continue to rise in 2020 to 41.9 million tonne, according to the report.

The report also said per capita wheat consumption in Bangladesh was less than half of world average – 32.6kg per year – from 2016 to 2019. It will increase to 35.6 kg year in 2020-21.

Is enough food available now?
Presently, a critical question is that whether current global food supplies can satisfy food needs?

Internationally cereal markets in 2020-21 are well supplied, with prices affected by tightening markets for wheat and robust international demand for coarse grains and rice, the report notes.

According to Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS) at the beginning of Covid-19 crisis, total capacity of warehouses and silos in Bangladesh stood at 21.72 lakh tonne in February of FY20, which was 21.48 lakh tonne in the same period of FY19.
The report forecasted that Bangladesh will have 8.3 million tonne cereal in the stock at the end of 2020, and 8 million tonne at the end of 2021.

Import of the cereal may increase by 0.1 million tonne in 2020-21 from that in 2019-20, while rice import may increase by the same amount in 2021.

Rice stock may fall by 0.2 million tonne at the end of 2021 from estimated 6.5 million tonne at the end of 2020.

Wheat stocks may reduce to 1.4 million tonne ending in 2021 from 1.5 million tonne ending in 2020. Wheat import may remain stagnant at 6.4 million tonne in FY21.

Major policy developments in Bangladesh
Bangladesh took some policy measures to control the price of rice, effective from 30 September 2020, fixed wholesale prices of fine rice (Miniket) at Tk51.5 per kg and at Tk45 per kg in the case of medium-quality rice, in an effort to avert further increases in prices of essentials.

Also, as a procurement policy, the government purchased parboiled rice at Tk36 per kg, white rice at Tk35 per kg and paddy Tk26.

Global food trade
Comparing the current crisis, the "Great Lockdown" with the last major crisis, the "Great Recession", a feature article by the FAO identified differences and communalities across countries and commodities

Global trade in food products has proven remarkably resilient during the pandemic, with developing countries even managing to increase export revenues.

Data available through June suggest "strong, albeit not complete, resilience of the global food markets to COVID-19 shocks," the report says in a special feature on recent trends in food imports bills and export earnings.

"The global food import bill for the whole of 2020 may even exceed that of 2019," says Josef Schmidhuber, co-author with Bing Qiao – both FAO economists – of the chapter. "There is, however, a noticeable shift away from high value food items to staples."

The report shows that developing countries have demonstrated notable "vivacity" in buoying global food trade flows. Their export earnings in the first half of 2020 rose by 4.6% compared to that in the same period of the previous year, while those of developed countries declined.

 

[fallstuff]

SUN JAN 24, 2021 / 6:07 AM EST
Bangladesh to buy Myanmar rice, putting aside Rohingya crisis
Ruma Paul

Redirect Notice

General view of a rice field in a valley in Nyaung Shwe, Shan state, Myanmar, November 6, 2019.
REUTERS/ANN WANG

DHAKA (Reuters) - Bangladesh will buy 100,000 tonnes of rice from Myanmar, putting aside a rift over the Rohingya refugee crisis as the government races to overcome a shortage of the staple food for the country's more than 160 million people.

High rice prices pose a problem for the Dhaka government, which is ramping up efforts to replenish its depleted reserves after floods last year ravaged crops and sent prices to a record high.

Muslim-majority Bangladesh and mostly Buddhist Myanmar have been at odds over the more than 1 million Muslim Rohingya refugees in camps in southern Bangladesh. The vast majority of them fled Myanmar in 2017 from a military-led crackdown that U.N investigators said was executed with "genocidal intent" - assertions that Myanmar denies.

Bangladesh will import white rice in a government-to-government deal at $485 a tonne, including cost, insurance and freight (CIF) liner out basis, said Mosammat Nazmanara Khanum, the secretary at the country's food ministry.

"Our main priority is to bring down the prices of rice," Khanum told Reuters on Sunday, adding the government could buy as much as 10 million tonnes while private traders are allowed to buy another 10 million tonnes in the year to June.
The deal will be signed soon and the rice will be delivered by April in phases, she said.

Bangladesh is also buying 150,000 tonnes of rice from India's state-run firm NAFED in a government-to-government deal while it has issued a series of tender to buy the grain.

"We could buy more rice from India in state-to-state deals," Khanum said, adding that the Food Ministry was holding talks with several other Indian state agencies.

Bangladesh, traditionally the world's third-biggest rice producer with around 35 million tonnes annually, uses almost all its production to feed its people. It still often requires imports to cope with shortages caused by floods or droughts.

মাছে ভাতে বাঙালি !

 

[Bilal9]

I find it very odd that despite producing 35 million Tons of rice we still need to import. Thirty-five million tons means per capita Rice availability 212 kg per person per year. This is higher than Indian per capita rice+wheat availability. India produce around 280 million ton of Rice+Wheat+other cereals(per capita 203 kg per year) feeding 1.38 billion people, still manage to export 10 million ton of Rice. If we were following the Indian example, instead of importing, Bangladesh should be able to export several million tons of Rice each year, even after flood damage, Bangladesh should not need to import. This rice import do not make any sense, this is despite the fact that Bangladesh is one of the largest wheat importer in the world, importing around 6 million tons.

A normal person do not need to eat 180-200 kg cereal per year even if it is mainly a cereal based diet. People in the developed world consume around 100 kg cereal per year. On the other hand, our per capita Rice+wheat availability is around 250kg/per person/per year. Still need to import from India, Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam etc.

So the question is, what is the problem? Do Bangladeshi people eat excessive? or rice rot more than other countries post harvest? or there are some inconsistency in data collection on production quantities?

Bhai have you ever visited India?

The average lower middle and even middle class Indian person hardly eats anything. Self inflicted misery....

 

[Homo Sapiens]

Bangladesh's Rice Imports Could Surge To 2m Tonnes: Govt Source

Bangladesh's Rice Imports Could Surge To 2m Tonnes: Govt Source | ESM Magazine

Bangladesh's rice imports are likely to surge to 2 million tonnes in the 2020/21 financial year as local prices jumped to a record high on limited supplies, a senior g...

www.esmmagazine.com

Published on Jan 6 2021 7:29 AM in Supply Chain tagged: Trending Posts / Rice / Imports / Bangladesh

Bangladesh's rice imports are likely to surge to 2 million tonnes in the 2020/21 financial year as local prices jumped to a record high on limited supplies, a senior government official said on Tuesday.

Higher imports by Bangladesh, the world's third-biggest rice producer, could lift exports from neighbouring India, the biggest global exporter, as it has been offering the grain at competitive prices.

Bangladesh is turning to imports after repeated flooding ravaged local output, in turn depleting domestic stockpiles.

"The food ministry has decided to import 1 million tonnes of rice in the current financial year. At the same time, the private sector may be given the opportunity to import as much as 1 million tonnes," a senior official at the Food Ministry said.

"Whoever intends to import rice will have to seek permission from the ministry by 10 January," said the official, who declined to be named.

Bangladesh imported a little over 4,000 tonnes of rice in the last financial year that ended in June 2020.

Import Duty
Amid the shortages and high prices, the country plans to cut the rice import duty to 25% from 62.5% while allowing private traders to import rice up to a certain level to bolster reserves, Food Minister Sadhan Chandra Majumdar said last week.

Bangladesh will likely fulfil the entire import requirement from India because of its lower prices, said B.V. Krishna Rao, president of the Rice Exporters Association in India.

"Indian prices are far lower than Thailand or Vietnam. Freight rate is also minimal. Besides traders can ship rice via road route as well," Rao said.

Bangladesh has so far floated five tenders to import 250,000 tonnes of rice and all were won by Indian suppliers.

Rice stocks at government's warehouses have dropped to 530,000 tonnes, half a million tonnes less than Bangladesh's typical food security threshold level.

Bangladesh's rain-fed rice output, or Aman crop, is expected to fall as much as 15% this year.

 

[Homo Sapiens]

Bangladesh imported a little over 4,000 tonnes of rice in the last financial year that ended in June 2020.

In normal year, Bangladesh do not need to import any Rice. Last year, just 4 thousand tons of rice were imported. But whenever a major flood hit the country, we need to import 2 or 3 million ton. Bangladeshi people eat the highest amount of Rice in the world. Even if we reduce our per capita Rice consumption by 10 percent, we can entirely eliminate the Rice import in flood hit years, and be able to export 2-3 million tons in normal year.

Bhai have you ever visited India?

The average lower middle and even middle class Indian person hardly eats anything. Self inflicted misery....

This is true. India has an unusual level of hunger even compared to it's average per capita income level. Nepal's per capita income is slightly more than half of India, yet they have better nutrition availibality than Indians. I have always said, In normal sense, India should not be a grain exporting country. China and India have almost same number of people, China produce twice the amount of cereals that India produce. Yet China need to import millions of ton cereal per year. But India, despite producting half of China, manage to export 10 million ton rice each year ! How it is possible ? unless India robbing foods from it's poorest and exporting to other countries? This phenomenon remind me of Tzarist Russia and Soviet Union under Stalin. Then Russia was the biggest grain exporter in world market, yet at the same times, millions of poor Russians, Ukrainians died out of hunger. Russian govt. choose to industrialize by acquiring foreign capital through grain export than feeding it's poor.

 

[VkdIndian]

From “Bangladesh to buy Myanmar rice, putting aside Rohingya crisis”

This thread has turned into India bashing thread. Strange.

 

[Homo Sapiens]

From “Bangladesh to buy Myanmar rice, putting aside Rohingya crisis”

This thread has turned into India bashing thread. Strange.

Why defensive instead of confronting the truth? India is the hunger capital of the world. More hunger than Sub Saharan Africa. Many poor Indians are surviving on wild rats. Even your minister recommend eating rats!

.

 

[VkdIndian]

Why defensive instead of confronting the truth?

I have no issues with any fact finding mission.

My only humble submission was that this thread was started with a specific heading but turned into India bashing thread. If hunger in India was the motive then that could have been done under that thread.
There are enough of those highlighting hunger in India.

My question to you is “Is motive of the thread is what it says or India Bashing in the garb of anything?”

 

[Destranator]

মাছে ভাতে বাঙালি !

Joy Diabetes, Diabetes er joy.

 

[Homo Sapiens]

I have no issues with any fact finding mission.

My only humble submission was that this thread was started with a specific heading but turned into India bashing thread. If hunger in India was the motive then that could have been done under that thread.
There are enough of those highlighting hunger in India.

My question to you is “Is motive of the thread is what it says or India Bashing in the garb of anything?”

Giving example of India is not bashing. It would have been had it been false, but it is not. India is a glaring example of how despite all those 2020 Superpower prediction, Mars mission and being global IT Hub, failed very miserably to provide even the very basic need of it's large chunk of population. Other countries need to learn from India's bad example. So we have no choice but to mention India times to times. If Indians like you have positive mentality in general, then will not mind this rather will try to remedy the problem with effective means rather than hiding under carpet.

This video superbly demonstrate the Indian mindset of hiding problem under the rug instead of confronting them. Instead of giving affordable housing to the slum dwellers, they decided to hide the slum from the eyes of Donald Trump by erecting a wall ! Another irony is that, this happened in so called Model state Gujarat, which often touted as the 'most developed' industrialized state of India.

 

[Destranator]

So the question is, what is the problem?

Do Bangladeshi people eat excessive? or rice rot more than other countries post harvest?

The answer is yes to both.

Bangladeshis should reduce rice consumption to 1/10th and have more fish, veggies, dairy and white meat.

Edit: Aren't you a doctor? If so, why on Earth am I advising you on Bangladeshi diet.

 

[bluesky]

Bangladesh to buy Myanmar rice, putting aside Rohingya crisis

Myanmar source or what, I have seen people in this forum celebrating on the self-sufficiency in the production of staple foods like rice, wheat, corn, barley as well as fish, Hilsha, eggs, goats, cows, fruits, vegetables and all other items onions.

How come this GoB is buying rice from MM? Very strange!! It must be a wrong news to lower the rice prices in the open market.

 

[Indos]

The answer is yes to both.

Bangladeshis should reduce rice consumption to 1/10th and have more fish, veggies, dairy and white meat.

Edit: Aren't you a doctor? If so, why on Earth am I advising you on Bangladeshi diet.

Maybe because Bangladesh doesnt eat alternative food too much.

Do you have this food selling in your street food vendors ?

Gado gado

Is it popular in Bangladesh ?