DHAKA: Bangladesh’s Food and Disaster Management Ministry has issued two separate tenders to import 50,000 tonnes of non-basmati parboiled and 50,000 tonnes of white rice from Thailand to meet emergency needs, food officials said on Wednesday.

The tenders were floated after India’s decision to raise the minimum export price of rice to $500 from $425.

Both the tenders will close on Jan. 16, with validity up to Feb. 5, for shipment within 30 days of the date of signing the contract.

The tender price has to be quoted separately for the country’s Chittagong and Mongla ports, cost, insurance and freight including stevedoring on the sellers’ account, at the both ends of the shipment. Bangladesh requires 1.7 million tonnes of grains, either through imports or grants, by the end of June, in the wake of a cyclone, officials said.

Cyclone Sidr struck Bangladesh’s coastlines on Nov. 15 with winds of up to 250 kph (155 mph) and a five-metre sea surge, killing more than 3,200 people and causing huge damage to crops, homes and infrastructure.