Thailand, Vietnam go for parboiled rice production for Bangladesh

Exporters in Thailand and Vietnam, world's top two rice sources, are now selling to Bangladeshi importers parboiled rice, which has not been a traditional item in their export basket.

Bangladeshi importers and bankers said parboiled rice procurement from Thailand and Vietnam had increased sharply in the recent months as availability of this category of rice increased there.

Tipu Sultan, a leader of Bangladesh Rice Importers' Association, told New Age on Friday that Bangladesh government and private-sector importers paid more than $67 million in January-March for Thai rice consignments and more than 80 per cent of that was for parboiled rice.

Bangladesh's rice procurement from Thailand in the quarter stood at around 0.15 million tonnes and in the past one year nearly 0.3 million tonnes.

Global rice import markets mostly require non-boiled rice. But, in Bangladesh parboiled rice is consumed most, excepting some areas in Chittagong and Sylhet.

Previously, for many years, Indian exporters had been supplying Bangladesh market with parboiled rice.

As India had banned rice export for around two years and as, even after withdrawal of the ban, exporters there remained inactive due to shortage of rice stocks Bangladeshi importers have been searching desperately for alternative sources of parboiled rice for the past couple of years or more.

Thai and Vietnamese exporters dominate the global rice market but they had supplying only non-boiled rice. But, as Bangladeshi government and private-sector importers rushed there recently offering good price it inspired exporters to convince millers to produce parboiled rice and cater to Bangladesh market.

Quoting reports from the Thai Rice Exporters' Association, Tipu Sultan said Bangladesh imported $61 million worth of rice from Thailand in 2010, $0.8 million in 2009, and $11 million in 2008.

Bangladesh is not a net importer of rice but production shortage and damage of crop in natural calamities force it to procure one to two million tonnes of rice in some years. With around 30 million tonnes of annual un-husked rice production, the country's domestic supply of rice is more than 20 million tonnes.

Source: New Age

Foreign assistance target for next ADP set at Tk 188.85b

The government has set the foreign assistance target for the next Annual Development Programme at Tk 188.85 billion, attaching top priority to infrastructure project development.

Economic Relations Division officials said the target was set last week based on the demands made by government ministries and agencies for implementing their ongoing projects as well as those in fiscal year 2011-12.

The foreign assistance target for the next ADP is Tk 69.55 billion more than the revised Tk 119.30 billion target for the current ADP.

According to ERD sources, government bodies in communication and power sectors sought more foreign fund allocations in the upcoming budget for implementing their development projects.

The government has allocated Tk 4.0 billion project aid for implementing the Padma bridge project in the next ADP.

The ERD officials said the total size of the next ADP would be finalised this month.

A planning ministry official said the size of the next ADP would probably hover around Tk 460 billion, up by Tk 3.51 billion from the current ADP.

Planning ministry officials said, 'Although the size of the ADP for the next fiscal year would be higher than that of the current one, foreign funds utilisation remains a challenge as the government agencies continue to fail to implement the development projects.'

In the wake of the failure to utilise foreign funds, the government reduced the foreign assistance target by Tk 3.7 billion to Tk 119.30 billion in the revised ADP for the current fiscal year.

ERD officials, however, are hopeful that foreign assistance disbursement will increase in the coming days.

The ERD also has set the foreign assistance target at Tk 210 billion in the upcoming national budget.

The target is $1.03 billion higher than that of $1.97 billion in the current fiscal year budget.

Source: New Age

BRAC Bank opts for Oracle Fusion Middleware

BRAC Bank has recently chosen Oracle Service Bus for Financial Services and Oracle WebLogic 11g, part of the Oracle Fusion Middleware products family, as a platform to help modernise its banking operations.

Oracle Service Bus for Financial Services will enable BRAC bank with a flexible infrastructure to integrate various third party applications, while providing the IT team with the ability to centrally configure polices and ensure security of the exposed services, said a news release.

Oracle WebLogic 11g helps ensure rapid deployment and ease of integration through a single tool, thus reducing work load on the internal team while providing the additional capabilities of managing and monitoring communications among all applications.

'Oracle solutions based on Open Industry Standards will help our bank to extend and evolve our existing applications instead of replacing them,' said BRAC Bank chief technology officer Nawed Iqbal.

Source: New Age

Japanese co to invest $5.6 million in Bangladesh

CG Fashions Limited, a Japanese company, will set up a readymade garment industry in the Adamjee Export Processing Zone investing $5.6 million.

The foreign-owned company will also create employment opportunity for 1,399 Bangladeshi nationals, said a news release.

An agreement to this effect was signed between the Bangladesh Export Processing Zones Authority and CG Fashions Limited at BEPZA Complex on Monday.

BEPZA member (investment promotion) Md Moyjuddin Ahmed and CG Fashions Limited managing director Shinichi Okuda signed the agreement on behalf of their respective sides.

BEPZA executive chairman ATM Shahidul Islam and other senior officials, among others, were present at the signing ceremony.

Source: New Age

Dhaka joins in seafood expo in Brussels today

A three-day seafood fair titled 'European Seafood Exposition' begins today in the Belgium capital of Brussels.

Two-man delegation of the Export Promotion Bureau will participate in the exposition, the world's largest seafood show.

Members of the Bangladesh Frozen Foods Exporters Association will display an array of sea fish especially known as black gold.

Commerce minister Faruk Khan will lead the delegation, which will be accompanied by a 30-member business delegation.

Shrimp exporters eye $60 million as spot order from the ESE as BFFEA president Kazi Shahnewaz earlier told the media that they got positive response from the foreign buyers in the last year's exposition.

Source: New Age

GP posts Tk 2,067cr revenue earnings in Q1

Grameenphone Limited contributed Tk 944 crore in revenue to the public exchequer in 2010, its chief financial officer Raihan Shamsi told a press briefing at a city hotel on Monday.

He said the mobile operator had contributed a total of Tk 19,446 crore in revenue to the national coffers in the last 14 years.

Grameenphone's revenue earnings in the first quarter of 2011 stood at Tk 2,067 crore, posting a Tk 363 crore or 21.3 per cent rise from that in the corresponding period of 2010, Shamsi told at the briefing organised to announce the company's financial report for the January-March quarter of 2011.

However, the net profit of the company in the quarter amounted to Tk 287 crore with a 13.9 per cent profit margin compared to Tk 316 crore with an 18.5 per cent profit margin in the same period of 2010. The year-on-year profit margin has decreased in the first quarter of 2010 as the company invested Tk 206 crore for customer acquisition and modernisation of network and lost Tk 29 crore due to depreciation of dollar, Shamsi said.

Source: New Age

Tax lawyers for imposing property tax

Tax lawyers on Monday proposed imposing property tax in the forthcoming national budget.

Jatiya Kar Ainjibi Samity president Zakir Hossain said, 'The wealth tax, which was once imposed, has been withdrawn for the benefit of the wealthy people.'

'As a result, the public exchequer has been losing a large amount of revenue every year,' he told a press meet organised by the JKAS, the national forum representing tax consultants, at the National Press Club to present its proposals for the budget 2011-2012.

The association proposed that the National Board of Revenue should re-impose a 10 per cent tax on sale of land to increase the government's revenue earnings.

JKAS executive president Akmal Hossain read the paper containing the proposals, with Zakir Hossain presiding over the meeting. ZKAS

advisers Jamirul Akter and Ahmed Ali Shiekh, vice president Azmol Hossain, general secretary Abdul Aziz Sarker, and joint secretary general Kazi Arefin Zahan were also present on the occasion.

The association recommended that the government should take an initiative to press the country's stock exchanges to provide all their information to the NBR. 

'The government, the people, and the NBR are not sure about the sources of the thousands of crores of taka invested in the capital market by the big investors,' Zakir remarked in this regard.

The JKAS proposed bringing those who had abused and misused the facility of importing duty-free cars to book.

'The number of tax payers among the professionals is really insignificant. Currently, thousands of millionaires among the physicians, engineers, lawyers, accountants, and consultants are out of the tax net,' Akmal Hossain said.

He recommended that the government should make the professionals aware of their obligation to pay tax.

The JKAS recommended increasing the ceiling of tax-free income to

Tk 2 lakh per year, considering the cumulative rise in livelihood expenditures.

It also proposed introducing tax identification number and imposing a minimum tax of Tk 5,000 to Tk 10,000 on purchase of air conditioner and furniture worth Tk 50,000 and more.

The association also recommended imposing tax on expenses made by non-governmental organisations for paying their employees and also forming a regulatory body for the NGOs.

Source: New Age