TCB to launch Ramadan truck sales of rice, oil, pulses in divisional cities
Govt to import 50,000 tonnes of rice from Singapore
The Trading Corporation of Bangladesh (TCB) will launch a special truck sale programme in all divisional cities, including Dhaka, during the upcoming Ramadan to keep the prices of daily essentials affordable.
"Edible oil, rice, and pulses will be sold at subsidised prices under the programme, starting this February," the planning adviser told journalists after a meeting of the Advisory Council Committee on Economic Affairs and Government Procurement at the Secretariat on Tuesday (11 February).
Sources from the meeting said the committee gave approval to sell TCB products through mobile trucks in eight divisional cities to keep daily necessities affordable.
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The meeting was chaired by the planning adviser, as the finance adviser was abroad on government duty.
Meanwhile, TCB continues to sell subsidised products to smart family cardholders nationwide.
Starting Monday, in addition to this programme in Dhaka and Chattogram, TCB has begun selling five products, including bottled soybean oil, from open trucks at subsidised prices.
Each buyer can purchase up to two litres of soybean oil, two kilograms each of lentils and chickpeas, one kilogram of sugar, and 500 grams of dates.
The prices are set at Tk100 per litre for soybean oil, Tk70 per kg for sugar, Tk60 per kg for lentils and chickpeas, and Tk156 per kg for dates.
The Advisory Council Committee on Government Procurement has approved a proposal to import 50,000 tonnes of non-basmati parboiled rice from Singapore through an international open tender.
The import will cost Tk265.21 crore, with the Directorate General of Food purchasing the rice from Agro Corp International of Singapore at $434.77 per tonne. This follows recent rice imports from India, Pakistan, and Vietnam.
The meeting also approved the import of one cargo of liquefied natural gas (LNG) from the United Arab Emirates (UAE), to be supplied by M/s OQ Trading Limited at $16.7750 per MMBTU, costing around Tk779.39 crore.
Additionally, proposals to import 30,000 tonnes of MOP fertiliser from Russia and 30,000 tonnes of rock phosphate from the UAE were approved at the state level, with a total estimated cost of Tk190.47 crore.
