Chattogram Bureau :
Presently harvesting of Aman paddy is in the last stage across the country. The govt and rice mill owners have already started buying the newly harvested paddy from the cultivators . But rice prices have suddenly gone up due to a shortage of supply. Wholesale rice traders have alleged that prices are being hiked, thus creating an artificial supply crisis. Sources concerned said the retail price of rice has gone up by Tk2-Tk4 per kg in a week. The government’s rice procurement at increased prices and the recent fuel price hike have affected the country’s rice market.
A recent visit to Chaktai- Khatunganj, the country’s largest wholesale market for consumer commodities , revealed that supply of rice from different warehouses across the country has declined over the past week. The rice market was already showing a slightly upward trend in prices due to the increased transportation cost triggered by the recent fuel price hike. After the supply of the new season’s rice started reaching the market, a syndicate of regional rice traders, who buy rice from the farmers and sell it to wholesalers, reduced the supply to the wholesale markets, creating an artificial supply crisis. As a result, the price of a sack (50 kg) of rice has increased by Tk100 to Tk250 within a week.
According to the Chattogram wholesalers, the prices of almost all types of rice have gone up in the last two weeks. A sack of Swarna Siddha rice is now being sold at Tk2,100, increasing by Tk100. Increasing by Tk200, Miniket Siddha is being sold at Tk2,300-Tk2,500. As an impact of the wholesale price hike, rice prices have gone up in retail markets also by several taka per kg.
Siddique Ahmed, a wholesaler from Khatunganj, said, “There is a sufficient supply of newly harvested and old rice to regional rice markets; but mill owners and regional wholesalers have created an artificial supply crisis to make additional profit, which ultimately resulted in increased rice prices during the last week.”
Former president of the Chattogram Rice Mill Association, said, “The government has increased the procurement price of rice. In the case of farmers, the price has increased by Tk1 per kg while the price of rice procured from mill owners has increased by Tk3 per kg. Moreover, the price of rice in the country has already gone up a little after the recent fuel price hike. he said.
