Dhaka, Aug. 20 -- Rice imports restarted on Tuesday through the Hili land port in Dinajpur after the National Board of Revenue (NBR) reduced import duties recently, sources said.

Normally subject to a 63.25 per cent duty, rice imports will now face only 2.0 per cent, confirmed importers.

On August 10, the food ministry allowed 242 traders to import a total of 0.5 million tonnes of rice to help stabilise the domestic market.

"My trucks are now at customs. They will enter Bangladesh after 8:00pm," said Lalit Keshra, owner of M/s Sairam Enterprise in Dinajpur. Hili customs officials also confirmed that the reduced duty rate is reflected in their system.

Mr Keshra said prices of coarse and medium-quality rice in Dinajpur could fall by Tk ...