Bangladesh third quarter grain imports drop

Bangladesh's food-grain imports dropped more than 42 percent year on year to 504,000 tonnes in the third quarter after record production of rice, officials said. Bangladesh produced a summer rice crop of 17.5 million tonnes against 15 million tonnes last year, offering some relief in the wake of food-grain shortages and soaring prices.
The country is hoping for another bumper crop in the upcoming season, agriculture ministry officials said. Bangladesh expects to grow 36.68 million tonnes of foodgrains, mostly rice, in the year to June 2009, up from 29.77 million tonnes in the previous year.