Bangladesh Import Tender Pushes Up Rice Prices in India
30-Jul-2025 12:04 PM
Kolkata. The Bangladesh government has decided to import a total of 9 lakh tonnes of rice and has announced to issue the first global tender for this on August 7. As a result, the price of non-basmati rice has started rising in India.
India is the world's largest rice exporting country and the price of its rice also remains at a competitive level. India and Bangladesh share borders, so transportation cost and time are less. In view of this, it seems that the tender issued in Bangladesh will be obtained only by Indian rice companies.
According to trade analysts, the export demand for rice like Swarna, Miniket and Sona Masuri from India is expected to increase rapidly due to the expectation of strong purchases by Bangladesh. It is believed that the prices of low-
priced rice will get more support because there is a greater chance of its export increasing. Initial signs of this have started appearing in the domestic market. During recent weeks, an increase of 8-10 percent has been recorded in the price of the above varieties of rice.
Rice processors say that the price of the rice varieties that are consumed the most in Bangladesh has increased by 7 to 13 percent in India in the last two weeks. Currently, the price of Swarna rice has reached Rs 3200 per quintal and the price of Miniket and Sona Masur has reached Rs 4500 per quintal. There may be some more improvement in this next month.
The President of the Rice Exporters Association says that there is sufficient exportable stock of rice available in India and all the conditions are also favorable to increase its export to Bangladesh, so Indian exporters will not face much difficulty in getting the majority of Bangladesh rice import tenders.
According to the exporters, out of the 9 lakh tons of rice that has been decided to be imported in Bangladesh, 4 lakh tons will be imported by the government agency while the remaining 5 lakh tons of rice will be procured by private traders.
The process of issuing tenders will start next month and exporters will be allowed to supply it within the next six weeks. Miniket and Sona Masuri rice produced in West Bengal, Jharkhand, Andhra Pradesh, Orissa and Bihar are likely to be exported to Bangladesh in large quantities.