Bangladesh is set to import a total of 250,000 tonnes of rice from Thailand and India in intergovernmental deals to shore up depleted stocks of the staple. Bangladesh, normally the world’s fourth-biggest rice producer, has emerged as a major importer of the grain this year after floods damaged its crops and sent domestic prices of the staple to record highs. Grains buyer will buy 0.15 MMT of parboiled rice from Thailand at $ 465 a tonne and another 0.1 MMT from India’s PEC at $455 a tonne. The prices agreed include shipping, insurance and discharge costs. Buyers have almost finalised all the deals to fulfil our target, adding that the state grains buyer aims to import 1.5 MMTof rice in the year to June 2018. The latest purchases from Thailand and India followed a government buy of 0.1 MMT of white rice from Myanmar, a deal that put aside the worsening relations between Dhaka and Naypyidaw over the Rohingya refugee crisis. The deals with Thailand and India were finalised after a second round of talks with the two top rice exporting countries after Bangladesh’s initial efforts suffered a setback due to high prices. High demand from Bangladesh helped push Asian rice prices to multi-year highs in June.