Rishad Reveals Rice Import Details

In order to meet rice shortage in the market, a memorandum of understanding to import rice from Myanmar and Thailand have been prepared. Steps have been taken to send these documents to both countries.

It was decided to import 1 lakhs metric ton of Naadu rice and 25,000 matric ton of white raw rice from Thailand. Apart from this 30,000 metric ton of white raw rice will be imported from Myanmar, said Minister of Industry and Commerce Rishad Bathiudeen.

Meanwhile, Acting Ambassador for Pakistan in Srilanka met Minister Rishad Bathiudeen at his office yesterday (31) and told him that his country is ready to export rice to Srilanka. He further said, the price of rice per metric ton has now increased to US $ 480 and the rice price in September is expected to get reduced to US $ 410. He said, Srilanka can gainfully utilized this opportunity and import rice in September.  

In addition negotiations are underway to import 1 lakh metric ton of rice from India. In the meantime, steps have been taken by the CWE to purchase 51,000 metric ton of paddy from the paddy marketing department. From this paddy stock 32,000 metric ton of rice is expected to be produced.