The country’s stock of food grains has started to decline because of the full operation of open market sale (OMS) along with other safety net programmes.
The country’s stock of food grains has started to decline because of the full operation of open market sale (OMS) along with other safety net programmes.
But the price of coarse rice fell by 1.59 percent in a month from now following bumper harvest of Aman paddy, according to the Trading Corporation of Bangladesh (TCB).
File Photo
On 1 November, the country’s food stock stood at 1.58 million tonnes, the highest in a decade, which gave hope that the prices of rice would ease within the next two months.
But on 13 December, the food reserve came to 1.453 million tonnes, of which 1.15 million tonnes is rice and the rest is wheat.
“The government is still in a comfortable position even after a marginal decline of the reserve. The price of rice is now declining because of bumper Aman harvest,” Ahmed Hossain Khan, director general of Directorate of Food, told daily sun on Friday over phone.
He also said the price of rice will decline further after the full Aman harvest. The food reserve will increase within a short time with import of rice and wheat as the price of wheat has fallen on the international market recently, Ahmed added.
However, the local price of wheat is still high, he said.
According to the agriculture ministry, the country is expecting another bumper Aman output this year, but farmers are deprived of due rates as the present rate is much lower than the production cost.
Last year Aman production was 12.7 million tonnes while this year’s output is set to touch 13.3 million tonnes, according to the Department of Agriculture Extension. The government has set Aman procurement rate at Tk 28 per kg this year.
According to the DAE, 60 percent Aman has already been harvested.
In the last Boro season, the Food Division procured 817,000 tonnes of rice and distributed 570,000 tonnes through different programmes, including OMS.
Now, coarse rice and unpacked flour are being sold at Tk 30 and Tk 26 per kg at the capital’s kitchen markets. The prices were Tk 33 and Tk 26 per kg a month ago. Prices of fine rice also marked a declining trend and decreased by 1.10 percent in a month.
According to TCB data, prices of coarse rice and flour have decreased by 4.66 percent and 7.14 percent in the last one year.
But Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics said general inflation in rural areas surged to 11.37 percent in November while it was 11.01 percent in October.
The country had a food stock of 1.26 million tonnes when the Awami League assumed power in 2009. Bangladesh’s average annual demand for food—basically wheat and rice—is 29 million tonnes and the target of food production in the current fiscal year is 36.6 million tonnes, according to the food directorate estimation.
Usually, the government sets aside 1.5 million tonnes of food grains to tackle any emergency situation.
Dr Mahbub Hasan, executive director of Brac and an agriculture expert, told daily sun that the price of rice declined because of good Aman harvest. Rice is now selling at Tk 25 to Tk 26 at wholesale market.
The price of rice is reducing slowly because of the one and a half months’ time gap between paddy production and sales, he added.
Mahbub said the price of rice on the global market has not yet eased because of export restriction in many countries.
Farmers may face hardship if the price declines below Tk 25 per kg, he added.
News Source:
The Daily Sun