410 metric tonnes of rice imported through Benapole port in 4 days

Bangladesh has imported 410 metric tonnes of rice from India through Benapole port in the last four days under duty-free facilities.

The import started on Monday (November 18) through this port.

Although 14 companies have the permission to import rice through Benapole port, four companies--Messrs Mahbubul Alam Food Products, Messrs Ark Trading, Messrs SMS Enterprise and Messrs Sardar International--are importing rice.

Shahidul Islam, a rice importer at Benapole land port, said that rice import through the port was closed for a long time due to the imposition of duties. Recently, the government has withdrawn the duties and has taken initiatives to import rice.

Hemant Kumar Sarkar, Deputy Assistant Officer of the Port's Plant Quarantine Center, said that Messrs Mahbubul Alam Food Products and Messrs Ark Trading Company have already unloaded 105 metric tonnes of rice each, and SMM Enterprises have unloaded 100 metric tonnes of rice from the port.

On Thursday night, six trucks of rice from Sardar International entered Benapole Port which will be unloaded from the port on Saturday.

Deputy Director (Traffic) of the port, Kazi Ratan, said that 410 metric tonnes of rice have entered Benapole Port in the last four days. After customs clearance, the documents are being checked and released in a short time.