Bangladesh’s food grain production targets for 2022-23 have been slightly underachieved, according to a World Bank report. The government is making purchases for buffer stock. As of December 10, stocks of food grains (rice and wheat) stood at 1.85 million tonnes, up from 1.76 million tonnes in June. The government has purchased 11 percent more rice than the target.
Nevertheless, Bangladesh remains a food importer, and the grain import bill is down 1.4 percent over 2022 due to softening commodity prices, and prices of non-cereal foods are 20 percent lower. Domestic rice prices have remained largely stable, although the price of high-quality rice has declined since April. Bangladesh imposed a rice export ban on October 17 that includes aromatic and non-aromatic rice, the report said.