Prices of most rice varieties have started easing in the city kitchen markets thanks to the arrival of new Boro crop giving a respite to the fixed income of people.
Prices of the staple cereal dropped by 15-20 per cent at mill gates and in the city wholesale markets and by 7-9 per cent (Tk 1-2 per kg) at the retail level in the city in last two weeks, traders said.
According to Department of Agriculture Extension (DAE), Boro paddy, the major crop, has been cultivated on 4.84 million (48.4 lakh) hectares of land this fiscal. Last year the country produced a record amount of 19.0 million (190 lakh) tonnes from 4.78 million hectares of land.
The DAE officials said 35 per cent harvest had been completed till Wednesday.
However, the coarse variety Swarna was selling at Tk 23-25 per kg, medium quality Brridhan-28 Tk 32-33, Brridhan-29 Tk 33-34 and Miniket Tk 40-45 per kg at mill gates in Rangpur, Rajshahi and Jessore on Wednesday, down by Tk 6-8 in last fourteen days, according to Bangladesh Auto Major Husking Mills Owners Association.
KM Layek Ali, secretary of the association, said after getting assurance from the ministry of food over restrictions on rice import, the millers had started buying paddy from the farmers and local traders.
Many millers who had a good stock of Aman paddy are now releasing it at low price to keep a hold on trade during the current Boro season. "It helps ease the prices," he said.
Mr Ali said import was still going on through legal and illegal channels causing worry to the local traders.
He urged the National Board of Revenue (NBR) to impose minimum 50 per cent duty on rice import to protect the interests of both farmers and millers.
However, rice prices in the city wholesale markets have also declined by Tk 3-4 per kg. Swarna was selling at Tk 26-28 per kg based on quality while Miniket at Tk 44-48 per kg, Brridhan-28 Tk 37-38 per kg in Badamtoli, Babubazar and Jatrabari wholesale markets.
Md Asadulla, joint secretary of Badamtoli O Babu Bazar Chaul Aratdar Malik Samity, an association of rice wholesalers in the city, said as supplies increased, prices plunged notably at mill gates in Kushtia, Pabna, Naogaon, Dinajpur and Rangpur.
He said the best quality rice Miniket was now selling at Tk 46-48 per kg at the wholesale level.
Md Zahedul Islam, proprietor of Somota Rice Agency at Babu Bazar, said rice prices could fall further if the transport cost declined. Despite restoration of normalcy in the country, truck fare was still higher, he added.
The transport cost per truck of rice (15 tonnes) from Naogaon was now Tk 18,000-Tk 19,000 against Tk 12,000-Tk 13,000 in December last year, he said.
However, rice prices at the retail level declined only by Tk 1-2 per kg in the city.
Swarna is selling at Tk 31-32 and Miniket (non-branded) Tk 48-50 per kg. Prices of Miniket rice of various brands including Pran, Utshab and Rashid Agro are yet to come down, according to traders in key kitchen markets in the city.
The Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS) data showed that rice production in the first two rice cropping seasons - Aus and Aman - increased significantly this fiscal compared to that of last fiscal.
The country produced a record 13.19 million tonnes of Aman while 2.328 million tonnes of Aus in the current fiscal year. The figures were 13.032 million tonnes and 2.32 million tonnes respectively in the last fiscal year.
According to the BBS and Directorate General of Food (DGoF) data, 34.365 million tonnes of rice were produced in the FY'14, the highest in the country against the demand for 31.0 million tonnes.
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