The commerce ministry plans to cut or adjust aromatic rice export quotas as domestic prices rise, and has told permitted exporters to report their actual shipments within three working days.
The government will import 100,000 tonnes of non-basmati parboiled rice from Vietnam on a government-to-government basis at Tk 51.50 a kg.
Despite flash-flood losses in the haor region, officials say overall boro output is satisfactory and the government has taken a series of steps to meet its 18 lakh tonne procurement target.
The loss of paddy worth about Tk 200 crore in the haors raises questions about rice prices, food security and policy, a commentary argues.
Habiganj's haors have a bumper boro crop this season, but paddy prices at their lowest in years leave farmers unable to cover costs or repay advances.
Aman paddy prices have fallen sharply amid continued rice imports, leaving farmers worried about getting a fair price for the boro crop about to be harvested.
AgribusinessLemons and cucumbers became cheaper in Dhaka's Mirpur markets on 6 March 2026, mid-Ramadan, while broiler and sonali chicken, sugar and spices rose. Buyers and sellers complained of short supplies of bottled soybean oil.
With aman rice arriving in markets and government stocks at a record high, the government is opening the door to private rice imports, a move critics say helps traders at the expense of farmers.
The Economist Intelligence Unit expects global food prices to keep easing in 2026, led by rice, while labour, aid and environmental rules bring new challenges.
CropsGovernment warehouses held 2,054,179 tonnes of food grain on 27 July 2025, which the Directorate of Food called the highest ever. Boro season procurement of paddy and rice had passed 1.428 million tonnes by the same date.
Rice prices have risen by Tk 2-6 a kg despite the Aman harvest and open imports, with traders blaming hoarding and rumours, millers blaming paddy prices and the food secretary blaming propaganda.
The food ministry fined more than 100 businesses Tk 21 lakh in anti-hoarding drives across the country, with 37 mills in Naogaon alone fined nearly Tk 15 lakh.
Food Minister Sadhan Chandra Majumder told corporate firms to stop competing to buy paddy and warned there would be no leniency for illegal stocks beyond their capacity.
