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The early morning showers came as a help for paddy farmers who, as per the government instructions, were allowed to start paddy transplantation. The mild showers continued for almost an hour. Hailstones too were reported from few areas surrounding the city. Estimate an area of 1.80 lakh hectares to come under paddy cultivation in this season, nearly 80,000 hectares area would come under basmati varieties.

The government rice stocks in storage have fallen to the lowest in six years due to an insufficient supply from the ongoing procurement programme. The stock of rice stands at 1,91,000 tonnes till June 13 which in 2009 stood at 5,46,000 tonnes in the Fiscal Year 2009-10. The price of rice has already increased over the last two months which traders and millers attribute to the loss of crops in the haor regions in the Northwestern region of Bangladesh. The price of coarse rice in the capital was ranging at between Tk45 and Tk55 a kilogramme, 5%-10% higher compared to that a month ago.

Around 2.1 million tonnes of inedible rice stored by the state were expected to be sold in the latest bidding held yesterday by the Ministry of Commerce, leaving only a small amount of poor quality grade grain in the government stockpile to be put on sale next month. Offer prices ranged between 2,000-6,700 baht per tonne and depended mostly on how poor the quality of the rice was. However, the offer prices were well above offers in the previous bid of around 4,000 baht a tonne.

Prices of rice fell in the key wholesale markets of the country as traders liquidate stocks fearing demand may be hit after the roll out of GST as a 5% tax on branded flour will be levied. In Haryana Karnal market, prices of 1121 basmati sella rice fell by 100 rupees, and the grain was traded at 5,300-5,400 rupees per 100 kg. Permal raw variety non-basmati rice was traded at 2,800 rupees per 100 kg in Karnal.

The Army Purchase Organization has offered 16,900 tonne of sharbati rice for auction through NCDEX e-markets, the ration wing said in a tender notice. The auction will be conducted on July 6.

Bangladesh has signed a deal with Vietnam to import 250,000 tonne of rice. Bangladesh will buy 50,000 tonne of parboiled rice at $470 per tonne, and 200,000 tonne of white rice at $430 a tn. The government had earlier planned to buy 1.5 million tonne of grain during the Boro crop season (Nov-May) this year. The floods damaged Boro crops, which would have yielded 600,000 tonne of rice.