DHAKA: Bangladesh's Food and Disaster Management Ministry has issued a tender to import 100,000 tones of non-basmati parboiled rice to meet post-cyclone emergency needs, food officials said on Sunday.

The tender will close on Jan. 21, with validity up to Feb. 10, for shipment within 30 days of the date of signing of the contract. The tender price has to be quoted separately for the country's Chittagong and Mongla ports, based on the cost of cargo, insurance and freight including stevedoring on the seller's account, at both ends of the shipment.

Bangladesh requires 1 million tones of rice either from imports or grants by the end of June, officials said. Cyclone Sidr, which hit the impoverished South Asian Country on Nov. 15, killed more than 3,200, displaced 2 millions and damaged a huge quantity of crops.

The cyclones, following devastating floods in July-September, and other natural disasters, will disrupt agricultural production, raising the food deficit from the present 2.8-3.0 millions tones to 4.7 million tones in two decades time, agriculture officials said