OMS of rice to be expanded to district town level
Tuesday, 5 October 2010
FE Report
The government will expand the Open Market Sales (OMS) of rice to district town level within a couple of days in a bid to rein in prices of the staple food in the local market.
Food minister Abdur Razzaque said this Sunday to newsmen after a meeting with rice market monitoring committee at the secretariat.
"The government has decided to expand OMS to stabilise the price of rice and keep it within purchasing capacity", the minister said.
Currently the government is running OMS in 100 spots in Dhaka city and in different divisions and districts through truck dealers at Tk 24 per kilogramme.
The minister held the meeting with the rice-mill owners of North Bengal and rice dealers of Dhaka and Chittagong.
In the meeting, rice dealers assured the minister that there was less possibility of rice price rise due to the ensuing season of Aman.
They said Aman will be available in the market within 45 days. Rice dealers and millers requested the government to monitor the mill-gate and consumer-level prices of rice. They have claimed that wholesale prices of rice sometimes go up due to transportation cost and intervention of importers. They also requested the government to settle the matter by discussing with the importers.
The food minister said the government will be able to ensure smooth supply of rice and wheat as it is going to import the essential item from India and Vietnam.
Current stock of food is sufficient to meet the existing demand and there will be no crisis of food, the minister said.
The government has failed to procure sufficient rice from domestic market. It is going to import 0.6 million tonnes of rice from abroad, he said.
The government will import 0.2 million tonnes of rice from Vietnam and 0.3 million tonnes from India. It will also import 0.2 million tonnes of wheat from India.
The government will expand the Open Market Sales (OMS) of rice to district town level within a couple of days in a bid to rein in prices of the staple food in the local market.
Food minister Abdur Razzaque said this Sunday to newsmen after a meeting with rice market monitoring committee at the secretariat.
"The government has decided to expand OMS to stabilise the price of rice and keep it within purchasing capacity", the minister said.
Currently the government is running OMS in 100 spots in Dhaka city and in different divisions and districts through truck dealers at Tk 24 per kilogramme.
The minister held the meeting with the rice-mill owners of North Bengal and rice dealers of Dhaka and Chittagong.
In the meeting, rice dealers assured the minister that there was less possibility of rice price rise due to the ensuing season of Aman.
They said Aman will be available in the market within 45 days. Rice dealers and millers requested the government to monitor the mill-gate and consumer-level prices of rice. They have claimed that wholesale prices of rice sometimes go up due to transportation cost and intervention of importers. They also requested the government to settle the matter by discussing with the importers.
The food minister said the government will be able to ensure smooth supply of rice and wheat as it is going to import the essential item from India and Vietnam.
Current stock of food is sufficient to meet the existing demand and there will be no crisis of food, the minister said.
The government has failed to procure sufficient rice from domestic market. It is going to import 0.6 million tonnes of rice from abroad, he said.
The government will import 0.2 million tonnes of rice from Vietnam and 0.3 million tonnes from India. It will also import 0.2 million tonnes of wheat from India.