India's Essar Shipping has sealed two contracts for handysize bulkers after India and Bangladesh signed a bilateral trade deal.
The 13,300-dwt Tuhina (built 1998) and 13,000-dwt Tvisha (built 1999) will ship Indian rice exports after Bangladesh agreed to buy 150,000 tonnes from its neighbour from 20 July.
Essar said this is the first such deal between the two countries for three years.
Chief executive Ranjit Singh said: "We are glad to extend our support and services to meet Bangladesh's rising demand for rice."
Singh also said India has signed a five-year deal to export pulses to Myanmar, and it will also take part in this business.
"As new export deals are slated to be signed with the neighbouring nations in the coming months, our vessels will also be engaged in trade in continuation within this region," he said.
"Also, as we witness the Covid wave cooling off across nations, we are hopeful to make the most of this opportunity and capitalise on this trade."
The two handysizes have been continuously employed in exporting rice since March, according to Essar.
Exports soaring
India saw a surge in food exports in the 2020/2021 financial year that ended on 31 March.
This was driven by record high sales of rice, comprising 13.9m tonnes of non-basmati and 4.6m tonnes of basmati rice.
Sales of wheat were also at a six-year high of 2.08m tonnes.
"In fact, growing demand for rice overseas is expected to be a big win for exporters of the commodity in India," Essar said.
Bangladesh is the world's third-biggest rice producer with an output of almost 35m tonnes per year, but relies on imports from time to time to cope with shortages caused by natural disasters such as floods or drought.
Essar has 35 ships including a VLCC.
Clarksons Research has assessed rising handysize earnings at an average of $29,408 per day as of 10 July.
"The short-term outlook remains positive amid healthy demand trends and continuing impacts from port congestion," the research arm of UK shipbroker Clarksons said.
