H1 rice import on meteoric rise

Rice import surged 440 per cent in the first half (H1) of the current financial year, traders said, in a peculiar paradox while the government has opted for and already begun export of the staple.
Millers lament that the rice import on such a large scale is posing a serious threat to local rice mills.
Food Ministry officials said the volume of imports in the July-January period of the current financial year (FY'15) surpassed the overall import made in the FY '14.
Bangladesh Bank's latest data shows private traders imported rice worth $248.5 million (settled LCs) in July-December period of the current fiscal. The figure was only $46.1 million in the corresponding period of the FY '14. The overall import of rice amounted to $377.22 million in the FY '14.
The central-bank data shows that private importers brought in rice worth $60 million just in December.
An official at the Directorate-General of Food (DGoF) said importers brought 0.72 million tonnes of rice in the July-January period of the FY '15. The overall import in the FY '14 was 0.371 million tonnes.
Local millers have almost trembled down as nearly 60 per cent of mills were forced to stop their operation in the peak 'rice-milling season' following the import coupled with the ongoing political turmoil that severely hampered transportation, said leading mill owners.
Secretary of Bangladesh Auto Major and Husking Mills Owners' Association (BAMHMOA), the biggest platform of the country's rice millers, KM Layek Ali said that the sector was in a big trouble due to the import and the ongoing blockade.
He pointed out that the government fixed Aman-rice price at Tk 33 per kilogram while the importers brought rice at prices below Tk 27-28 per kg from India.
"The millers are facing an uneven competition which may have a disastrous impact on market stability in future," he said.
He made a disconcerting disclosure that 60 per cent out of 20,000 mills across the country stopped their operation. It will, in his assumption, have a serious impact on the market as prices of the staple may shoot up significantly.
Shahidur Rahman Patwary Mohan, an executive member of BAMHMOA, said: "Apart from imports, the ongoing political turbulence also has battered our business."
He said in peak seasons like Boro and Aman farming, millers husk nearly 60,000 tonnes of paddy per day (for three months) which has been reduced to just 15,000 tonnes.
The milling crash occurred as orders from Dhaka, Chittagong and elsewhere in the country are being cancelled in fear of vandalism on highways. He said truck owners were not willing to run their vehicles and the owners who were taking risks were charging double fares.
According to him, in addition to about 22 million farmers, nearly 7.0 million people are directly involved with rice milling while another 4.0 million indirectly depend on it.
The industry leader said: "The mill owners and the workers are passing a tough time due to the imports and blockades."
Most of the mills depend on bank loans and count interest of 17-19 per cent which is adjusted on a three-month basis. And "hundreds of millers will turn loan defaulters, if this present trend continues".
Economist Dr Md Enamul Hoque said the government should have checks and balances on local production, supply and price trend before initiating a perfect rice import policy.
 "It is necessary to safeguard the local rice mills which are the compulsory segment for ensuring food security in the country."
According to the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics, overall rice production in the last financial year (FY'14) was at an all-time high of 34.35 million tonnes against the local demand for 31.0 million tonnes.
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