By IANS,
Dhaka : Bangladesh’s foodgrain imports fell sharply by more than 50 percent year-on-year, an official said Sunday.
Rice imports plunged by 56.32 percent year-on-year to $283.8 million during the first 10 months of the 2011-12 fiscal year (July 2011-June 2012), Xinhua reported.
During the July-April period, wheat import dropped by 52.46 percent to $433.2 million, the official of the Bangladesh Bank, the country’s central bank, said requesting anonymity.
The huge fall in rice and wheat import was mainly due to the good harvest, he said.
Bangladesh slashed its food grains import target by over 29 percent to 1.2 million tonnes in the 2011-12 fiscal from the original target of 1.7 million tonnes due to the country’s bumper harvest.
Bangladesh ranks fourth in per-capita rice consumption in the world.