Bangladesh extends bid deadline for rock phosphate imports

The state-owned Bangladesh Chemical Industries Corporation (BCIC) has decided to prolong the bid submission deadline by twenty-two days for the import of rock phosphate slated for the year’s end. This move aims to allow international bidders more time to prepare their proposals.

The Bangladesh government, through the BCIC tender # PUR-3.3147/2023-2024, intends to import a quantity of 25,000 metric tonnes of rock phosphate. This shipment will arrive in bulk on CFR(C) terms at the TSPCL Jetty, Chittagong Port, under the Cash Foreign Exchange protocol. The revised bid deadline is now set for 29th November 2023, having previously been scheduled for 7th November.

As outlined in the Economic Survey of Bangladesh, the BCIC oversees ten significant medium-sized enterprises. The portfolio includes four urea fertilizer factories, one DAP fertilizer factory, one TSP fertilizer factory, a paper mill, a cement factory, a glass sheet factory, and a factory dedicated to insulators and sanitary ware. Notably, chemical fertilizers comprise 80% of BCIC’s product lineup. Within this category, urea fertilizer accounts for 70%, and other fertilizers make up the remaining 10%. During the fiscal year 2022-23, up to February 2023, the operational factories under BCIC’s management produced 527,271 metric tonnes of urea, 58,309 metric tonnes of TSP, and 81,028 metric tonnes of DAP fertilizer.