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Bangladesh Sugar and Food Industries Corporation

autonomous · verified (verified 2026-05-17)

Profile

Head
Md. Rashidul Hassan
Role
Chairman (Additional Charge)
Annual budget
—
Staff
—
Established
1976
Legal basis
Formed on 1 July 1976 by merging Bangladesh Sugar Mills Corporation (BSMC) and Bangladesh Food & Allied Industries Corporation (BFAIC), both originally established under Presidential Order No. 27 of 26 March 1972

BSFIC is under acute financial stress: it owes approximately Tk 10,518 crore to five state-owned banks, with Sonali Bank's Tk 6,600 crore bond request and the Industries Ministry's Tk 8,000 crore bond proposal both stalled in bureaucratic review as of May 2026; six of fifteen sugar mills remain shut since the 2020 suspension order; the interim government has publicly committed to reopening them but no binding rehabilitation timeline has been announced; Kushtia Sugar Mills land (221 acres) is earmarked for conversion to an industrial economic zone under BEZA; the 2025-26 crushing season was hampered by an inability to pay cane farmers, with Tk 4.80 billion in farmer dues outstanding.

Recent activity

Provenance & notes

BSFIC was formed on 1 July 1976 by merging Bangladesh Sugar Mills Corporation (BSMC) and Bangladesh Food & Allied Industries Corporation (BFAIC), both established under Presidential Order No. 27 of 26 March 1972. The specific 1976 presidential ordinance or order number establishing BSFIC was not found in publicly indexed sources; the merger date and predecessor order are confirmed across multiple secondary sources and BEF. BSFIC operates 15 sugar mills in total; six have been shut since the Awami League government's suspension order of December 2020 (Panchagarh, Setabganj, Kushtia, Shyampur, Rajshahi, and Carew's and Co. Ltd). Current head: Md. Rashidul Hassan holds the chairmanship with additional charge responsibilities per BSS News reports from the 2025-26 crushing season inaugurations; the position had previously been held by Sheikh Shoebul Alam (retired August 2024 at the political transition) and briefly by Md. Arifur Rahman Apu (post-transition interim appointment, per Daily Sun). Lipika Bhadra, referenced in some 2024 reports as chairman-grade official, sent the December 23, 2024 letter requesting treasury bills; exact title and tenure boundaries for the Apu-to-Hassan transition were not resolvable from available sources -- treat current_head as provisional. Staff count: not available in publicly indexed primary sources. Annual budget: not available in indexed sources; BSFIC's financial position is characterised by accumulated losses rather than a conventional budget allocation. Sonali Bank bond: The Daily Star (published date aligned with late 2024 filings) reported Tk 6,600 crore (Tk 63.33 billion); the figure is separately corroborated by ChiniMandi and Financial Express. Total five-bank debt of Tk 9,338 crore (Prothom Alo, 2024) versus Tk 10,518 crore (TBS, early 2026) reflects either additional interest accrual or inclusion of off-balance-sheet items; both figures are sourced independently. Kushtia Sugar Mill land-to-economic-zone conversion: approved at BEZA governing board meeting chaired by Chief Adviser Muhammad Yunus (October 2025 per TBS); MoU with India on Kushtia EZ predates the current government. S. Alam & Co. partnership for Setabganj (1,250 TCD plant expandable to 2,500 TCD) was announced but implementation status as of May 2026 is unclear from indexed sources.

Sources