More fair price rice shops to be opened in capital of Bangladesh

DHAKA, April 9 (Xinhua) -- In order to meet the increasing demand for fair price rice, Bangladeshi paramilitary Bangladesh Rifles (BDR) will open 25 additional fair price rice shops on Sunday in capital Dhaka, making the total number to 75, according to an official from the BDR Headquarters Wednesday.

Briefing reporters at the BDR Headquarters, Colonel Majibul Hoque said that if necessary more this kind of shops would be opened in Dhaka City.

He said that presently BDR is selling 600 tons of rice daily from the existing 50 shops, meeting demand of 100,000 people. And with the opening of 25 new shops from Sunday, some 800-900 tons of rice would be sold to 150,000 city-dwellers.

Hoque said that so far, 100,000 tons of rice have been sold out since the program was launched in March last year.

The consumers buy rice at 25 taka (about 34 U.S. cents) per kg in the fair price rice shops while the retail market is selling the same rice at 36 taka (51 U.S. cents) per kg.

Bangladesh is experiencing food shortage caused by the two floods and Cyclone Sidr last year. Rice prices in the local market have doubled in one year time. The low-income families can't afford to buy rice in the retail market.

HONG KONG, April 6 (Xinhua) -- Philippine President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo convened a food summit with top officials and farm experts on Friday, looking for ways to prevent the emerging rice crisis from severely affecting the world's biggest importer of rice.

This came as the latest effort by the Philippine government to ensure food supplies and control soaring rice prices, which is also seen a major task in other Asian countries, where rice is consumed daily by every household. Full story

DHAKA, April 6 (Xinhua) -- The caretaker government of Bangladesh Sunday opened a letter of credit to import 400,000 tons of rice at 430 U.S. dollars per ton from India, a senior official said.

"India will supply 100,000 tons of rice within a month and the rest within two months," Food Secretary Mollah Wahiduzzaman told Xinhua Sunday.