The government has allowed 64 more traders to import over 0.171 million tonnes of rice to beef up supply of the staple in the domestic market as at a time poor Aman harvest is pushing rice prices up.
Food ministry officials said with the new entrants, a total of 142 traders have so far got permission to import a total of 0.676 million tonnes of rice.
Until January 07, the Office of Chief Controller of Imports and Exports has issued import permits in favour of 29 traders to import a total of 0.33 million tonnes of rice.
As per permission, non-basmati rice with a maximum of 5.0 per cent broken grains can be imported by private importers. Traders have to release imported rice in the market within 10 to 45 days.
Private importers will get duty benefit only if they meet the conditions set by the government, the official said. The importers will have to open LCs within seven days from the date of getting import permission and the food ministry must be informed about it.
Traders having an allocation of import permit for 1,000/5,000 tonnes rice will have to sell 50 per cent imported rice within 10 days while the rest within a maximum of 20 days.
In case of permission for importing 5001 and 50,000 tonnes of rice, traders will have to sell 50 per cent imported rice within 15 days while the rest within a month.
The governments has recently decided to import at least 1.0 million tonnes of rice from different countries to boost reserves amid growing concerns over the second wave of the Covid-19.
Rice price is currently abnormally high in the market and the government has asked local administration to strengthen monitoring so that manipulators cannot create volatility in the rice market.