Rice costlier by 5% on duty cut by Dhaka

Kolkata: Prices of rice have gone up nearly 5% from Friday as Bangladesh further slashed import duty on rice from 25% to 15.25% to increase imports of the staple. Rice from West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh and Karnataka are exported to Bangladesh.

"Prices have suddenly shot up by up to 4% after Bangladesh government announced reduction of duty on import of rice. The neighbouring nation will buy rice from India as well as procure some quantities from Vietnam," said Suraj Agarwal, CEO of Rice Villa.

Bangladesh will import sambha mansoori, sonam and kolam varieties of rice from UP, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh and Karnataka. Prices of these varieties have already shot up by 3-4% in the last one week. Due to its proximity to West Bengal, Bangladesh buys a good amount of miniket rice from the state. "Prices of miniket variety in West Bengal have firmed up by 5%," he said.


Lower paddy cultivation too is making rice dearer. Total area under paddy cultivation as on September 2 is down by 5.6% to 383.99 lakh hectares from 406.89 lakh hectares in Kharif 2021. Lesser rains in UP, Bihar, Jharkhand and West Bengal are to blame.

"There will definitely be a shortage of 10 mt rice as the sowing and transplantation season for paddy is now over. We are fearing that there will be panic buying for rice at the farmgate level this year, which may result in prices moving up till December," said Tarun Satsangi, assistant general manager (commodity research), at Origo E-Mandi.