Sri Lanka to import 70,000 metric tons of rice to address shortages

COLOMBO, Nov. 20 (Xinhua) — Sri Lanka’s cabinet has approved a proposal to import 70,000 metric tons of rice as a short-term solution to address the current rice shortages, a minister said on Wednesday.
Wasantha Samarasinghe, minister of trade, commerce, food security and cooperative development, told the media that the rice will be imported through two state-owned trading companies, Lanka Sathosa and Sri Lanka State Trading (General) Corporation.
Sri Lanka has seen rice shortages for the past few weeks.
Rice is the staple food of Sri Lanka and its citizens consume about 200,000 metric tons of rice monthly, the minister said. ■